Opposites
by Z-Raid
Summary: He was the insane demon god of madness. She was a small girl of courage. He shouldn't be interested in her, but he was. And that's when it all spiraled down hill. Crack pairing! AsuraXMaka
1. First Encounter

Hello everyone! This is my first fanfic ever, so apologies for major suckage. My grammar and spelling aren't the best, and I don't double check my work, so expect some errors.

This fanfic takes place in the anime verse, and begins in the last episode, except with a different ending. Its main pairing is also a crack pairing: AsuraXMaka. There are not a lot of stories of this pairing, and since no one is making any, THEN I WILL. Even if it sucks ass.

Anyways, enjoy the story!  
_

Things weren't looking good for our heroine Maka Albarn.

There she was, battered and broken, pinned to the ground by Kishin Asura. Her friends laid nearby in even worse conditions, possibly even dead. With her partner unconscious as well, Maka was left all by herself to fight the Kishin. Despite all of her efforts, Maka couldn't even make a scratch on him. Even her hidden weapon battles did little to change the tide of the battle. Now she was held down by Asura's tight grip on her neck; barely conscious and breathing. Certainly some of her bones were broken.

Defeat seems to be the only option left for Maka.

Asura's grip tightened around her neck, and he slowly lifted her up to his face.

"It's all right," he whispered softly, almost as if he was trying to soothe her wounds with tender words. "It's time to give up. Let your soul be consumed by insanity. It will free you from all of your fears. All of your pain and worries will go away."

His soft tone worried Maka. _Is he showing mercy to me..? Or is he planning something else?_ She thought skeptically. She remained quiet, and silently listened to the rest of his speech.

"There's nothing left you can do anyway," he continued. "Everything you tried on did nothing. Your friends, your anti-demon wavelength, even your last ditch effort of attacking me… They all were easily defeated. Now your partner is gone, and your body is barely working. There is nothing you can do. "

"There's nothing… I can do?" Maka quietly choked out these words, a blank expression on her face.

"That's right," Asura brought her closer to him, their faces mere inches apart. "There's nothing you can do. Just give up."

Give up? Just give up? It sounded like a tempting offer. With madness clouding her vision, she wouldn't feel the pain that seared through every inch of her body. She wouldn't have to live with the memory of her friends' bodies just laying there, practically lifeless. She wouldn't have to face the guilt of Soul defending her with his body, taking Asura's attack for her. Maybe she should just give up…

"No."

"Eh?" Asura's eyes widened a bit with surprise. "Did you say something?"

"I…I said…" Maka grab Asura's hand that was gripping her neck. She lifted her face to give direct eye contact to Asura. "I said no. I won't… give up! All of my bones may be broken; all my attempts may have failed! But I'm not giving up! I'll… I'll keep fighting till my last breath! I'm not going to run away from my problems! I'm not a coward like _you_!"

Firey determination was burning in her eyes, and that caused fear to bubble up within Asura. This small, rail-thin girl was severely wounded and was hardly conscious, yet she continues to fight. Such confident eyes scared Asura, how could she remain so strong after all this? Was that look in her eyes… courage? Along with the growing fear, a small interest was also growing.

_This girl, so she has courage, huh? _Asura stared in Maka's eye, seeing his own face reflecting in them. _Courage… Something I don't understand. If I can just understand it, then I won't be afraid of it. Maybe I can use this girl to show me?_

Maka coughed up some blood, and her breathing was getting harder. It seems that as each second pass, the heavier her eyelids felt. Nevertheless, Maka maintained her hard glare on Asura.

_I can't have this girl dying on me now. I need her to live, just a little while longer. _Asura loosened his tight grip on her neck, and brought Maka closer to him, so only a thin strip of air separated their lips.

"So this is courage, huh, girl?" He whispered softly to Maka. Her eyes, while showing some confusion, still had determination burning in them. "How interesting. You're an interesting girl."

"W-what… what are you-"

Asura closed the gap, and his lips were placed firmly on her lips.

Shock, surprise, confusion. A whirlwind of emotions flew through her mind. _What the hell is going on? Is he-? He's really-! _In the midst of her mental freak out, she failed to notice something slipping into her mouth.

"YOU BASTARD!" Maka punched him hard in the face and jumped a few feet back. She quickly rubbed her lips clean. "Why the hell did you-"

And suddenly the world began to blur, and everything was spinning. Maka's eyes grew heavier, and she fell to the ground, dizzy.

"What…" Maka gripped her head, trying to make the world stable. "What did you do to me?"

Her body fell limp to the ground, her eyes scarcely open. Everything was turning black…

"Show me, girl." Asura towered over her fallen figure. "Show me how strong your 'courage' is."

Three bright red eyes were the last thing she saw before she left the conscious world.

And that's the first chapter! Crappy, ain't it? Pretty short too. Sorry, I don't write long chapters. Reviews are much appreciated!


	2. White Hospital Room

Yo everyone! The second chapter is a go-go! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far! I would reply to your reviews, but I'm still pretty new to this site, so I don't really know how this site works too well. I'm still in the "clicking random buttons to see what they do" stage.

I'm supposed to put a disclaimer, right? Well here's the disclaimer once so I (hopefully) won't have to put it up again: I DON'T OWN SOUL EATER. It belongs to Atsushi Ohkubo.

Let gets this show on the road! I hope you enjoy the 2nd chapter!

* * *

"How is she, Stein?"

_Ah, someone said my name…_

"She's recovering well so far. I predict she will wake up soon."

_What's going on? Are they talking about me?_

"My poor baby girl! Damn that Kishin for hurting my dear daughter!"

_The Kishin!_

Maka's eyes immediately snapped open.

"Where is he?" Everyone in the small hospital jumped with surprise as Maka catapulted awake in her tiny, white bed. A look of sheer lividness already painted her face.

"Ah," replied Dr. Stein. "Speak of the devil."

"What's going on? Where am I? Where is the Kishin?" As soon she made a move to get out of the hospital bed, pain shot up throughout her body. "Ah! Crap!"

"Take it easy," Stein quickly placed his hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her back down the bed. "You have several ribs broken as well as other injuries. It will take at least two months for a full recovery."

"MAKA! MY POOR BABY GIRL! LET DADDY EMBRACE YOU WITH HIS EVER-LASTING LOOOOOVVVVEEEE~!" Several sparkles and flowers floated around Spirit as he pranced towards his daughter with arms wide open, ready to cuddle with his beloved daughter. In slow motion to boot.

"Maka chop!" And a hardcover book quickly met Spirit's cranium.

As Spirit laid on the floor, dejected and bleeding heavily, Dr. Stein continued his conversation with Maka. "You're in the Death City Hospital. You and the others were taken here after that battle with the Kishin ended. You have been unconscious for three days."

"Oh, thank goodness the others are safe." Maka felt a great wave of relief in her heart. "But the Kishin! Is he…?"

"He's still alive."

_Damn it. Even when the world is in the brink of danger, I still couldn't do anything. _Unknowingly she tightened her grip on the thin blanket that covered her, staring hard at the clean whiteness of the blanket. "…I'm sorry."

"Hey," Dr. Stein gently placed his hand on Maka's head, patting her head kindly. "It's not your fault. Your opponent was the Kishin. Defeating him by your lonesome is an unthinkable feat."

"But-!"

"But nothing. You may not have defeated him, but you did do some damage. The madness being created by the Kishin seems to have decreased. With the madness machines around the world from Arachnophobia destroyed, the insanity wavelength around the world has decreased considerably."

"But _he's_ still alive," Maka murmured quietly. "If he's still around, insanity will continue to spread, and eventually engulf the world!"

"Enough." Stein's kind smile was replaced with a stern one. "You failed; nothing is going to change that. Moping about it isn't going to get anything done. Take the fact that you're still alive as an opportunity to get stronger. We'll need everything we got to defeat the Kishin."

"…Right."

"I should leave the injured patient to rest, shouldn't I?" With that said Stein quickly turned on his heel and headed towards the exit, dragging a still unconscious and bleeding Spirit. "Get some rest, Maka. And don't worry about it."

And Maka was left in the small white hospital room all by her lonesome. From a nearby window, she could see the usually laughing sun yawning loudly. The world of twilight was soon about to enter the world of the night.

_Here I am stuck in this cramped room, while he is off somewhere doing god knows what. This really sucks. _Maka laid her head back down on bed, trying to get back to sleep.

Hopefully the next time she opens her eyes, the world will be much brighter.

* * *

2nd chapter complete! A bit shorter than the 1st chapter. I want to get out all of my ideas down before I forget them, so expect another update soon! My apologies for any grammar or spelling errors. Thanks for reading! :D


	3. Moonlit Night

Two new chapters in one day? I'm on a roll baby!

Also thanks to all of those who reviewed! Critiques are always welcomed! :D

Again, apologies for any errors.

Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater btw.

* * *

The laughing sun has set long ago, and now Death City was blanketed in darkness with only the moon to light the sky. The white walls of the hospital room Maka inhabited lost its vivid brightness, and were only pale silver in the moonlight. Several hours have passed since the sun has set, and Maka was still awake. She has spent the last couple hours trying to fall asleep, but all in vain. And so she gave up any attempts to try to fall asleep and resigned to staring at the moonlit ceiling.

_Argh, why can't I fall asleep? I'm so tired. This really freaking sucks, man._Maka continued with her angry thoughts while glaring holes into the white ceiling. The fact that her glare did not create physical holes in the ceiling was not improving her mood. _I wonder where the Kishin is now._

With sleep not coming anytime soon, Maka decided to look around the small hospital room for the umpteenth time to bring some sort of mild entertainment to herself. She looked around, and saw the same things as before. White walls, a white ceiling, hard tile floors, the firm white bed she laying on, the moonlight pouring through the one window of the room, various posters concerning personal hygiene, Kishin Asura sitting on a nearby chair and WHAT THE-

"Holy shit!" Maka immediately bolted upright, her eyes practically bulging out of her head. Her eyes weren't lying; the Kishin was sitting in a chair a couple of feet away from the bed she occupied. Maka's sudden outburst did not affect Asura at all. He remained in his relaxed and nonchalant position, staring back at Maka with disinterest.

"Tsk tsk. Such vulgar language. What a naughty girl you are."

"Am I dreaming? If so then this is a really crappy dream." Maka asked herself, and began to pinch several parts of her body in an attempt to wake herself up.

"You're not dreaming."

Maka grabbed the pillow her head once laid upon and held it defensively in front of her. Her face hardened up with a fierce glare as she harshly spoke. "What are you doing here? How did you get in Death City? Why the hell are you in my hospital room, you freak?"

"How rude. You may see me and hear me, but I am not physically here. I'm not an idiot who would enter Shinigami's city filled with meisters and weapons. Only you can see me, girl."

"What? That's bull crap! My anti-demon wavelength should prevent your insanity wavelength from affecting me. "

"Oh, it does, but only from external wavelengths." Asura smirked, and shifted a bit in his seat. "So I directly infected you with my wavelength. Not even your soul can withstand a direct infection of insanity. I'm surprised you're still sane."

"Why did you infect me? That was my first kiss, you bastard! I WILL CASTRATE YOU WITH A RUSTY SPOON!" Maka threw her pillow at Asura, only for his figure to disappear as the pillow made contact, knocking down the chair. "Where did that bastard go?"

The weight of her bed shifted suddenly, to her surprise. There he was sitting on the bed right next to her, his face hovering close to hers. He effectively trapped her into a corner by using his arm to encage her.

"Why did I infect you? Simple, so I can observe you, of course." A playful grin was on his lips. His breath tickled her forehead as he spoke. "You're always spouting words about 'courage' and other such nonsense all the time. They teach me nothing about what it really is, nor does it show how strong this courage is. My infection will help me observe you so I can learn this courage."

"H-hey," Maka mumbled nervously, her face tinted a light pink. "You're getting too close there, you idiot." This only made Asura smirk, and he leaned even closer.

"Show me, girl, whether your courage can beat my insanity."

"Ok, whatever! Just back up already, you pervert!" Maka tried to push him back, but that only seem to motivate him to move closer. His forehead lightly touched her forehead and his nose slightly brushed hers. Maka was having a mild heart attack, but kept her angry glare on Asura. "For a fake image, you certainly seem real, you liar."

"Real to you, anyway." Asura lifted his hand up and gently touched Maka's lips that were currently frozen in a deep frown. He liked how soft they felt under his fingers. "So that was your first kiss, huh? You know, for lips that speak such crude words, they're very soft. And pretty tasty too. Did you eat something sweet before we fought? Or is that how they naturally taste like?"

"Go away, you creepy pervert."

"Such uncouth words again. Should I steal another kiss to see if your lips are still sweet?" Asura's lips hovered dangerously close to Maka's. A little closer and the gap would be closed once again, and he would get another taste of those tender lips.

"I said _go away_."

The fierceness of her words shook Asura up a bit, and upon backing away a bit, he could see fire burning in her eyes, just like before. A small bit of fear was rising up again, and so he backed away slowly. He kept his calm, playful look on the outside while on the inside he was shaking from fear. _That look is scary, yet intriguing at the same time._ He stared at her for a second longer, when he gave up trying to comprehend that stare.

"That's a nice look you have there. Fine, I'll leave you alone… for now." Asura got off of the bed and stood up, with his back facing Maka. "Sweet dreams."

And with that said, Asura's figure faded away. Maka was left all alone in the dark, moonlit room once again. Her heart was hammering like crazy and her nerves were shaken. _So he's basically going to stalk me? That's disturbing. And it felt so real too. Is it really just my brain playing tricks on me? I should tell someone about this… in the morning._

Maka didn't have any trouble falling asleep after that moment with the Kishin.

* * *

And thus the 3rd chapter is done! I like to make Asura act like a creepy pervert. I just imagine that if Asura had any romantic interest in anyone at all, he would be very perverted. XD

I don't like drama too much (although this fanfic isn't very dramatic, and isn't suppose to); I'm more of a comedic person. So I will be randomly injecting my strange brand of humor with extras!

EXTRA~

Asura: I infected you so I can observe your courage… And watch you while you change clothes.

Maka: Eh? What was that last part?

Asura: Nothing.

Thanks for reading!


	4. Flowers for Recovery

What's up everybody! I'm here to bring another update to this fantastic (not) story! I hope you enjoy the chapter! :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater kthxbai

* * *

She didn't know when she fell asleep, but apparently she did at some point. When Maka opened her eyes, the familiar grinning sun was up in the sky. The bright morning light made the small room more blinding to Maka's eyes. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, giving it time to adjust to the bright light. Her body was slightly sore, but it was much better compared to yesterday's pain.

The events of last night flashed in Maka's mind. _Ugh, I really hope that was just a crazy acid dream or something due to medication. But it felt so real... Oh crap, what if he's watching me right now? CREEPY! _ Maka wrapped the blanket around her in a feeble attempt to protect her from invisible eyes. It didn't change anything, but at least she felt better under her cocoon of a blanket.

A knock came from behind the door, along with a soft whisper. "Maka…?"

_Ah! That voice! _Maka's head quickly popped out of her protective blanket shield. "Come in!"

The door creaked open, and entered a slim, stick-like figure clad in a black dress. Said figure was also pushing a giant wheelbarrow overflowing with a large varieties flowers into the room. Maka could feel a sweatdrop form on her face as her friend happily pushed the wheelbarrow into the cramp room.

"Maka, look!" Crona lifted up a small flower from the massive wheelbarrow, and twirled it around with a small smile. "I brought you flowers!"

"I-I can see that, Crona. But why so many?"

"Oh, well, Dr. Stein said you woke up, and I wanted to give you something, but I didn't know what. And Marie-sensei said that when someone is in the hospital, people give them flowers so they'll get better quicker. So I brought lots of flowers so you could get better faster." Crona's smile changed to a small frown. "W-was it a bad idea?"

"Of course not! I can feel myself getting better already! I love them! Really! Thank you so much." Maka patted next the spot next to her on the bed. "Have a seat next to me."

With a bright smile, Crona shuffled to Maka's bed and plopped down next to her, handing Maka the small flower.

"Shouldn't you be in the hospital too, Crona? You were badly injured during that fight with Medusa."

"Don't under estimate me, ugly!" A black liquid was rising out of Crona's back, and began to take form. "There's no wound that I can't handle!"

"Hey Ragnarok."

"Ragnarok! Leave Maka alone!" Ragnarok quickly punched Crona's head in retaliation while yelling something about not telling him what to do and that no pansy is going to order him around.

"Hey ugly cow," Still pulling on Crona's pink hair ("Ah! Stop it! I don't know how to deal with this!"), Ragnarok turned his attention to Maka. "I heard you got your ass handed to you by the Kishin and he got away. Nice job there, weakling."

"Says the little pipsqueak who was saved by the 'weak, ugly cow.' I'll get him next time, you can count on that. And stop picking on Crona or I'll Maka chop you!"

"Hmph! Fine."

Maka patted Crona's pink head, trying to soothe the pain. "Did you go see everyone else? How are they?"

"Yeah, I saw them. They seem to be doing fine. Black Star's arm is broken, and he keeps trying to sign his own cast, even though his writing hand is the one that's wrapped up. Kid broke one leg, but he keeps insisting on getting another cast for his other leg. Something about maintain symmetry. Tsubaki, Liz, and Patti are already out of the hospital, they should be coming soon."

"What about Soul?"

"Soul's out of the hospital too. His back was hurt, but he recovered pretty quickly. He's been really quiet lately."

"Oh… I see."

"Maka," A worried look plastered Crona's face. "Are you ok? Are you in pain? You're acting a bit strange. Should I have brought more flowers?"

"No, I think that's enough flowers. I'm fine, no need to worry." Maka gave a reassuring smile and patter her skinny friend on the back. "Hey, do you know where Dr. Stein is?"

"Dr. Stein and the other adults have been going to see Shinigami-sama a lot recently. I think they're talking about the Kishin. You sure you're ok, Maka?"

"ARRGH! This is boring!" Ragnarok began shaking Crona's head around with his tiny fists, as if candy would pop out if he shakes hard enough. Sadly no candy came out. "Enough with the talking already! I'm hungry! I want food! We haven't even eaten breakfast yet!"

"Stop it! I want to stay here with Maka! I don't know how to deal with this!"

"Maka CHOP!" And a hardcover book was happily implanted in Ragnarok's cranium. "Crona, you really should get some breakfast. You're gonna stay stick-thin all the time unless you eat!"

"But Maka…"

"You can visit me anytime. Now go get some breakfast!"

"Yeah, listen to the ugly cow for once! Hurry up!" Ragnarok bopped Crona on the head, and kept doing so while they were leaving the room. ("Stop it, damn it!") Maka could still hear them argue even when they were halfway down the hallway.

Maka looked over at the wheelbarrow of flowers. "What am I going to do with all these flowers?" She mumbled to herself. Some of the flowers have fallen out, leaving the floor decorated with colorful petals.

"You could use them to decorate your friends' graves."

"You again." In the same spot Crona was sitting on was the Kishin himself. Once again Maka glared at him intensely, and scooted away from him a bit. "They're all alive and well, no thanks to you."

"Ah, that's a crying shame. I should have put some more effort into killing them." Maka continued to glare at Asura. He ignored it, and picked up the small flower that was left on the bed. He twirled it around with indifference. "So your friend brought you flowers, huh? How sweet."

"How about you get lost?"

"What a fickle girl you are. Talking all sweet-like one moment, and brashly the next. How come you don't talk to me like that?"

Maka snorted and got out of the bed. "Why should I? Of course I would talk to my friend differently than to you. It's none of your concerns."

"That pink one is the same as me."

"Eh?"

"Shy, nervous, afraid of everything. I can tell just by looking. That child is the same as me, a coward. If we're the same, then why am I treated differently?"

_What's with him? _Maka glanced at Asura. He still sat on the bed, twirling and staring at the flower in his hands with a blank look in his eyes. "Crona may be cowardly at times, but there's one big difference between you two."

"And that difference is…?"

"Courage."

Asura's grip on the flower tightened as he frowned. That word again. He was beginning to get sick of it. Asura began plucking the petals off the flower. "There you go again blathering on about that word. Honestly, can't you say anything else?"

"If I didn't know any better, I say you were jealous."

For a second, Asura's hand froze in the middle of plucking a petal. Jealous? Him? What is there to be jealous of? He continued with his plucking. "Yeah, right. I just don't understand why I get treated badly when you have a friend who is just like me, and yet you're all smiles when you're with them."

"Whatever." She turned his back to him and headed towards the door." If you're not going to leave, then I will. I'm going to see Soul."

"You mean that weapon boy? I don't see why you keep him around; you seemed to be a much more capable weapon than him."

"What are you talking about?"

Asura raised his gaze to see that Maka was sincerely confused. _Oh, so she doesn't remember the time she fought with her own blades? Well she was unconscious at that time. Her weapon form could be a future threat, it would be better if she didn't know. _"Nothing of interest."

"Whatever, I'm leaving." With that said, Maka exited the room, quietly shutting the door as she left. The situation was reversed, with Asura left all alone in the small white hospital room this time.

"Nothing of interest at all…" Asura dropped all the plucked petals. His image faded away as the petals gently fell to the ground.

* * *

Boy howdy this was a long chapter. It was originally going to be two separate chapters, but I couldn't think of an appropriate place to split it up. So I just made it a really long chapter. Don't get your hopes up on my future chapters being this long (I can't think of that much stuff to type all the time).

I believe that Crona is genderless, so I've been trying to avoid using any pronouns when talking about Crona. I don't know how long I can keep this up T_T (it's really hard!) I might end up using male pronouns, since in English male pronouns can be used neutrally. Or the pronoun it, even though 'it' is more for inanimate objects than people.

EXTRA~

Asura: Is that friend of yours male or female?

Maka: Honestly? I don't know. No one knows.

Asura: Then why don't just you lift up the dress and find out?

Maka: That would be rude!…And we already tried that. It didn't work.

Asura: I can do it.

Maka: Asura!

Asura: What? I wouldn't do it for perverted reasons. For you, yeah, but not for that ambiguously gendered kid.

Maka: ASURA!


	5. Motivation for Strength

Hey hey everyone! How's it going? Here I am again bringing another update to this crack fic!

A random tidbit: I usually don't like using Japanese honorifics, but since I already used them, I'll keep using them. I just can't bring myself to call Shinigami-sama "Lord Death." It's not as catchy as Shinigami-sama!

Disclaimer: Ah, you folks know who this series belongs to already.

* * *

The halls of the hospital were quiet as Maka walked along them. Just like her room, everything else in the hospital was white. Abandoned wheelchairs and IV drips littered the hall sporadically. Maka walked alone in the empty hallway, hoping to find life soon. The vacancy of the hallway was beginning to disturb her. As she walked, she thought about her partner Soul. _Where could Soul be right now? Crona said he was let out of the hospital, so he could be home. Or maybe he's visting the others with Tsubaki and the others? _She decided to check around the hospital first, seeing as she was already there. And if push comes to shove, she'll just use her Soul Perception abilities to find him.

Further down the hallway Maka could see a familiar figure wrapped up in mummy-like bandages. She ran towards the mummy nurse. "Nygus-sensei!"

"Maka, good to see you're up and well. But as a recovering patient you should be in your room resting."

"Sorry about that, but I can't just sit still in my room. There was a really annoying pest in my room. Can you tell me where Black Star and Kid are?"

"Black Star and Kid are sharing a room. Their room is on the 1st floor, room 11. The other girls should be there as well."

"Did you happen to see Soul anywhere here?"

"No I haven't seen him in quite a while."

"Ah, I see. Well thanks for the help Nygus-senssi!" Maka ran to a nearby staircase and descended to the 1st floor. Unlike the floor she was previously on, the 1st floor was bustling with life. Patients could be seen checking in and out of the hospital, while doctors and nurses flitted from one area to another, tending to the present patients of the hospital. Walking around for a bit, Maka eventually found room 11, and entered the room.

"Damn it. Why couldn't I get another cast? I'm worthless asymmetrical garbage now! I'm not fit to live anymore!"

"Good grief, Kid…"

Maka entered the room, and she could see everyone acting like they normally would. Kid was freaking out about having only one leg in a cast, Liz was developing a migraine, Patti was laughing her ass off at Kid's pain, and Black Star was shoveling the hospital food down his throat as quickly as he could while Tsubaki tried to stop him from choking. The usual.

"I'm glad to see everyone is alive and well." Maka's announcement drew the attention of everyone to her.

"Maka! You're awake!" Tsubaki gave Maka a warm smile and walked over to her. "We were just about to go see you. Dr. Stein told us you woke up last night. How are you feeling?"

"HEY MAKA! Wanna sign my cast? I doubt you can make your signature as big as mine!" Maka looked over and could Black Star's signature poorly scrawled over his cast, covering a good majority of it.

"There's not any room to sign on your cast anyway, dummy. I feel fine, Tsubaki."

"MAKA!" With a flying leap, Patti successfully tackled Maka. She continued to crush Maka in a bone-breaking hug. "You're alive! You were all like unconscious and stuff when we woke up after the battle!"

"Patti, let Maka go. You're killing her." Liz went towards her hyperactive sister and separated the two. "You really ok, Maka?"

While all the girls were fussing over her, Maka observed Kid and Black Star's wounds. Just as Crona told her, Kid had a broken leg and Black Star a broken arm. But Crona didn't mention the several cuts that were wrapped up with bandages that both of them had. _Both of them almost died while weakening the Kishin, and I wasted that opportunity…_

"Hey, you guys?" Maka's gaze fell to her hands as she began fiddling with her thumbs. "I'm… sorry for failing."

"Don't be ridiculous Maka." Apparently Kid calmed down enough to stop freaking about his asymmetry. "You were left to fight the Kishin all by yourself. As a Shinigami, it should have been my responsibility to be the one to fight the Kishin. I should be the one who apologizes."

"BAH! Now you're both acting ridiculous!" Black Star quickly got out of his bed and perched himself on the highest thing in the room, which happened to be the table holding his food. "We ALL failed. So quit putting all the blame on yourself!"

Crk. A small crack was developing on the table Black Star was standing on.

"Black Star," Tsubaki said worriedly, eyeing the flimsy table underneath his feet. "Get off the table. You're going to break it!"

"I'm in the middle of my motivational speech Tsubaki! Don't interrupt me!"

Crrrrrk.

"Uh, Black Star, the table…" Kid stared at the table. The crack was growing larger.

"I SAID SHUT UP! Anyway, since we all failed, then we obviously need to get stronger! We couldn't do it on our own, so with our new strength combine, we can kick the Kishin's ass! TOGETHER! Of course I'll be delivering the final blow! Hyahaha-"

CRAAAACK

The table broke.

"UWAAAAAAAAAAH! GAAH OH GOD THE PAIN WHHHHYY!"

And now Black Star needs a cast for his other arm.

And so Black Star was escorted out of the room to another place by Nygus-sensei to get his newly broken arm a cast. Motivational speech fail. Everyone else in the room just sighed at Black Star's idiocy.

"Oh Black Star…" Tsubaki bit her lip with teary eyes. "You're never going to recover if you keep acting like this…"

"Even though he's an idiot, he's right." Kid resumed his typical stoic face and looked at everyone. "We all need to start training once we all fully recover, and help the adults in every way possible to defeat the Kishin!"

"Right!" Everyone nodded their heads eagerly.

"First things first!" Kid turned his attention to Liz and Patti. "Liz! Patti!"

"What is it?"

"What's up Kiddo!"

"I need you to rearrange the medicine cabinet in front of me to be perfectly symmetrical. I cannot recover with that asymmetrical abomination in my sight! And I cannot move with this cast on my leg! I need you two to be my legs!"

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING!"

"Hyahahahaha!"

The Death trio continued to argue about the importance of symmetry. Well, mostly Liz and Kid. Patti was just laughing her ass off. Meanwhile Tsubaki and Maka carried on their own conversation, ignoring the chaos occurring in the corner of the room.

"Tsubaki, do you know where Soul is?"

"I haven't seen him since yesterday, which was the last time we visited Kid and Black Star here. I think he should be at your apartment right now."

"Ok. I'm going to see him now." Maka turned to leave the room.

"But Maka! You're still recovering! It takes at least a month for your injuries to fully heal."

"Psh, we're anime characters. Real life recovery time for normal humans doesn't apply to us. We could bleed out all 6 liters of blood in our body and still live."

"Wait, what?"

"Nothing. Anyway, I'm well enough to move around freely. I'll be checking myself out and heading home. Make sure Kid and Liz stop arguing and Black Star doesn't break anymore limbs. Oh, and make sure Patti doesn't die from over laughter either. Take care, everyone!"

"Maka!"

Maka quickly headed out of the door and went to check herself out. Normally, being a minor, she shouldn't be able to do so. But her lie that her father was going to check her out but was too busy flirting with all of the female nurses worked like a charm.

With clothes borrowed from the hospital, Maka headed to her tiny apartment. The sun was high in the sky, and the clouds were white and fluffy. Some of the redness caused by the insanity wavelength had cleared, letting the original blue of the sky shine through. The pleasant weather made Maka smile a bit, and she marched onward to her home.

She hoped that this pleasant time could last as long as possible.

* * *

Lol I broke the fourth wall. I can't have the heroine sitting in a hospital room all the time! The plot would go nowhere! So speedy recovery!

EXTRA~

Asura: I wasn't in this chapter this time. ):

Maka: I bet you'll appear again in the next chapter.

Asura: Really? Then if I don't, I get to steal your panties.

Maka: WHAT! NO WAY!

Asura: Too late! The bet is in place!


	6. Home Sweet Home

Yo! Once again I'm here to plague the internet with my crackfic!

Thank you so much for all of your reviews! :D I'm glad that all you seem to be enjoying the story so far. One of you brought up the question on whether the rating will go up, and since this kinda concerns everyone, I mind as well answer it here. The rating might possibly go up in the future, depending on whether I make Asura act like a crazy stalker or not. Well, a crazier stalker, anyway. XD

Disclaimer: Soul Eater doesn't belong to me~

* * *

Maka ran up the stairs to her apartment at a quick pace. She could sense a familiar soul wavelength located within the small living quarters she called home. She quickened her pace, and soon she was at the front of the door of her home. With a rapid twist, she turned the door knob and entered.

"Soul! I'm home-huh?"

As soon as she opened the door, she was greeted by the millions of sparkles of a newly cleaned apartment. Everything, from the floor to the furniture, was meticulously polished and cleaned to a dazzling shine. It was almost like everything in the apartment was giving off their own source of light. The bright light that reflected off all of the spic and span objects practically blinded Maka. It was beginning to hurt her face. Nearby she could see a small cake sitting on the freshly polished kitchen table.

"What the hell?"

"Maka! What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in the hospital!" Soul exited the bathroom decked out in an apron and rubber gloves. His hair held back by a red bandana.

_He looks kinda like a housewife dressed like that. _Maka chuckled quietly to herself and walked towards Soul. "What's with the place? It looks like someone with a severe phobia of germs came here and killed every bacteria and speck of dust in the apartment."

"I cleaned the place. You were let out of the hospital this quickly? You just woke up yesterday, you should still be in there."

"I checked myself out. Why did you clean this place? And with such freakish precision too?"

"Maka," Soul grabbed her hands in his and gripped them lightly. He looked into her eyes with a serious look. "You know that we'll soon have to go through many tribulations, right? We need to get stronger to defeat the Kishin. With you being injured, I thought it would help if you came home to a clean place."

A light pink tinted Maka's cheeks. _He was worried about me? _The thought of Soul working so hard to get the grime out of floorboards for her made her smile. "Thank you, Soul. But you didn't have to go to such lengths for me."

"Well it's too late for that now, ain't it?" Soul replied with a smirk.

"Hehe, yeah I guess." Soul let go of Maka's hands. Even though he was wearing rubber gloves, her hands felt warm from his touch. "Your back is hurt, isn't it? You shouldn't be over working-" Maka's happy face faltered , and her eyes widened with shock. She quickly regained her composure and widened her smile. "…so much."

"You ok?"

"I'm fine. The brightness of the room blinded me for a second." She smiled and looked at Soul with a confident look to reassure him. Although she looked calm, on the inside she was freaking out. Directly behind Soul, she could see Asura standing there, towering over him. He glowered at Soul, with great resentment and anger etched into his face. Asura's scarves swirled dangerously close to Soul's neck. _It's just a hallucination; he shouldn't be able to hurt him, right? _Maka thought worriedly. _I need to get Soul out of here._

"Soul, I was about to head over to the school to see Dr. Stein. Want to come with me?"

"Right now? You're still injured Maka. You shouldn't move around too much. You stay here, I'll go bring Stein here."

"Oh, that's not necessary."

"Nonsense. Knowing you, you would run around recklessly and make your injuries worse. I'll go." Soul took off the gloves, apron and bandana and dropped them on the table. He pointed to the small cake situated on the table as well. "I was going to bring this to you later at the hospital, but since you're here, you mind as well eat here as well. I'll be back soon." Soul quickly put on his sneakers and headed towards the door.

"Jeez, you're so stubborn, Soul. Fine, I'll see you later."

As he was about to exit the door, Soul stopped and turned to face Maka. "…Stay safe, all right?"

"I will."

Soul's eyes lingered on Maka for a couple of seconds. He seemed almost hesitant to leave her alone. He tore his gaze off of Maka and shut the door quietly as he left the sparkling apartment.

* * *

_You're pathetic._

Soul walked at a fast rate, trying to ignore the annoying voice that echoed throughout his mind. In the corner of his soul lurked a small, red demon in a fine suit. He seemed weaker than usual, but that didn't stop him from dancing and mocking Soul in the black room. The demon pranced around the grand piano surrounded by a numerous number of candles lighted by a blue flame.

_Was cleaning the apartment spotless your way of apologizing to her? A dirt-free home isn't going to fix her broken bones any quicker._

_Shut up, you annoying bastard._

His picked up his pace, almost as if to outrun the demon's words.

_You say that you both need to get stronger, but maybe it's really only you that needs to get stronger?_ The demon snickered and sat on the only chair of the black room.

_I said shut up. _He hated to admit, but the demon was right. He couldn't sit still while Maka slept in her small hospital room. It was his fault that she ended up in that white bed. If he hadn't fallen unconscious, he could have protected her. Maka's scream of pain and agony ranged perpetually in his mind. When he finally woken up, he saw Maka laying motionless on the ground. At the sight, a whirlwind of emotions swirled within Soul. Fear, sadness, shock, confusion.

Guilt.

_If you want to protect her, you'll need to get stronger. My offer still stands, surrender yourself to insanity, and I will grant you strength. Maybe if you took my offer earlier, then Maka wouldn't be in such a condition now._

_I don't need your damn help. Maka and I will get stronger together and defeat the Kishin with our sanity intact. _Soul was practically running down the street, avoiding people as he internally argued with his inner demon.

_I'll definitely protect you, Maka!_

_

* * *

_

As soon as Soul left, Maka turned her attention to Asura and looked upon him with intense contempt. Her smile was quickly replaced with a frown. "It's only been less than an hour since I've last seen you. Don't you have better things to do?"

Asura strolled over to the kitchen table and took a seat near the cake Soul made. A teasing smile was on his face now. "My physical body is recovering, just like yours. There's not much I can do anyway. And I like to bother you, your reactions are so amusing." With a finger, Asura scooped up some of the frosting off the cake and licked it.

"Don't touch the cake idiot!"

Asura's face cringed with disgust. "Blech, too sweet. Disgusting."

"That cake wasn't meant for you, dumbass." Maka grabbed the cake and held it protectively close to her. She inspected the cake as if to check if any poison was left on the small delicacy. She used her own finger to taste the frosting as well. "It tastes perfectly fine."

"Are you two lovers?"

"What kind of random ass question is that?"

"You and your partner, the scythe boy. Are you two lovers?"

"What?" Maka's face burned red, and she turned her glare away from Asura. "We're just friends and partners!"

"Really." He muttered sarcastically. Asura's face frowned with disbelief. He didn't like the look on Maka's face when her weapon was mentioned. He placed his arms on the table and rested his head on them as a makeshift pillow. "You two seem certainly close for 'partners.' Holding hands, him cleaning the house and making sweets for you; that seems awfully like a couple to me."

"It's normal for people to do stuff like that. It's one of the effects of being friends." Maka looked at him with a spiteful look. _This bastard should really mind his own business._

"Friends? What a useless thing. You can never tell what they truly think of you. That boy could be planning your demise behind your back."

"Soul would never do that!" Maka's sudden rise in her voice startled Asura. "None of my friends would do that! I trust all of them!"

"But they can still lie, you know. One day they can stab you in the back and leave you for dead."

"Even so, I find happiness from my friendship with them. I'm willing to take that risk."

"…Really?" Asura raised his head from his arms, his eyes wide with surprise. _She's willing to risk her life just to be friends with others? Why? How?_

"Of course. There are always some risks to every action, I'm aware of that."

Asura stared at Maka in silence. For the first time ever, Maka wasn't fiercely glaring at him. Her face softened to a calm expression. She stared at him, waiting patiently for his response. That relaxed appearance suited her much better than an angry glare.

After several seconds of staring at Maka's peaceful face, Asura finally responded. "Feh, whatever."

"Are you gonna leave anytime soon?"

He placed his head on his arms again. Once again a playful smirk plastered his face. "No, you're fun to bother."

"Urgh, this is getting annoying. I should have gone with Soul to go see Dr. Stein." Maka placed the small cake on the table, far away from Asura.

"Do you really think that doctor can stop me? He can barely handle his own insanity. He's sane now only because of outside influences."

"Don't underestimate him. I'm sure Dr. Stein can think of something."

"Whatever you say." Asura eyed the cake on the opposite of the table, and then at Maka's face. "You got frosting on your face."

"What?" Maka touched her face, and looked at the shiny surface of the table to check her reflection. "No I don't."

"Yes you do." Asura got up from his seat and went towards Maka and the cake. Again he scooped up a bit of frosting off the cake, and smudged it on Maka's face. "Right here."

"What the hell, you bastard!"

"Such a messy girl. I guess I'll have to clean it up." Asura cupped Maka's face with his hands and leaned close to her face. He tasted a small portion of the frosting, and slowly licked the rest off. The nasty cake tasted much better when it's on her. Maka's breath hitched for a second, and that inspired him to taste even more.

"This is much more delicious than that disgusting cake." Asura's tongue roamed dangerously close to her lips.

"Uwaah! Stop that you perverted freak!" Maka shoved him away and leapt back. She grabbed a nearby lamp and held if menacingly. "You're so freaking creepy! Go away, damn it!"

"Hehe, that's enough entertainment for now." Asura's image slowly began to fade away. "See you later, sweetie."

Asura faded away completely, leaving Maka alone in the spotless apartment. Maka looked at the small cake abandoned on the table.

_I don't feel like eating cake anymore._

_

* * *

_

And that's it for chapter 6! Wow, this chapter is longer than usual!

By the way, SoulXMaka will not be the main couple in this fic! There's enough fics for that couple already! AsuraXMaka is the main couple damn it! Sure, I like SoulXMaka, but not as much as my crack pairing. XD So it will be there, but in a passive not-really-there way.

EXTRA~

Asura: Damn, I lost the bet. Now I can't steal your panties.

Maka: Thank goodness.

Soul: Why would you want to anyway? Tiny-tits probably has plain boring panties.

Maka: SOUL!

Asura: Clearly you have never gotten a good look of Maka's panties when she jumps around in that short skirt. Her panties are anything but plain.

Soul: …Really? I'm kinda interested in seeing them now…

Maka: You're all just a bunch of shameless perverts! MAKA CHOPS!


	7. Walk Around the City

Hello again! I'm sorry it took so long to update! I had stuff to do and it got in the way. Thanks for all the reviews so far! Your reviews are like refreshing rain to the dry Earth! I LOVE YOU ALL.

Anyway lets get this show on the road!

Disclaimer: Be happy that Soul Eater doesn't belong to me. Cause then AsuraXMaka would be canon! Disturbingly canon.

* * *

Twenty minutes has passed since Soul left to get Dr. Stein and Asura's little incident with Maka. Maka sat silently in the kitchen, eating a small slice of the cake. Even though she didn't want to eat the cake, she ate it anyway. It would be rude to just leave it sitting there when Soul worked so hard to bake it. Maka had already changed out of the clothes she borrowed from the hospital, and was currently wearing whatever clothes she found laying around in her room. Bored out of her mind, Maka continued to eat her cake and waited for Soul.

_Damn this cake is good. Soul usually sucks ass at cooking. I wonder what recipe he used? Oh yeah, I have to return the hospital clothes back. And bring all of the flowers Crona gave me back here. What am I going to do with all of those flowers?_Maka was snapped out of her reverie when she heard the door creak open. Entered Soul, panting and out of breath. He was drenched with sweat and trying to catch his breath.

"Why are you so sweaty? Going to school isn't that difficult of a task. And where is Dr. Stein?"

"I… I ran to school…" Soul panted out. Maka walked over to him and handed him a bottle of water. He quickly drank some water and dumped the rest onto his head. "Dr. Stein is at the hospital. He wants to make an announcement to all of us, and it would be easier if we were all in the same place. We have to go to there now."

"Ok. What perfect timing, I needed to go back there anyway." Maka gathered the hospital clothes she left in her room and put them in a bag. She slipped on some shoes and was ready to go. "Before we go, do you want to freshen up or something, Soul? You're all sweaty and stuff…"

"No, I'm fine. Lets go." With that said they both left the apartment and headed to the hospital.

The trip to the hospital was quite awkward. While walking, it seemed as if Soul was trying to defend Maka at every angle possible, so he kept walking around her, trying to be a human shield. An ineffective human shield. It only made Maka pissed off. She grabbed his sweaty shirt to stop him from circling around her anymore.

"Stop it! That's annoying! Why the hell are you doing that anyway?"

"As a weapon, I'm making sure nothing harms you!"

"What's going to harm me, the air? Just walk beside me!"

"But-!"

"I'm perfectly capable of defending myself! Quit acting like an idiot and walk like a normal person!"

"Hmph, fine."

Thus they continued their trip to the hospital. Although Soul walked very closely to Maka, acting as if something could jump out and attack her at anymore. The mailbox, that suspicious looking tree, the plastic bag flowing in the wind: all potential enemies! Maka just sighed and gave up on trying to make Soul stop clinging to her. After several minutes of Soul eying everything with suspicion, they finally reached the hospital.

Once they entered the hospital, Maka returned the clothes she borrowed. They walked to Black Star and Kids room. In the room they could see Dr. Stein and everyone else. Black Star was back, with both of his arms in a cast. Kid kept staring at Black Star's casts, twitching at the fact that only one cast was signed by Black Star. The girls were talking quietly to Crona and Ragnarok, who were both eating a burrito a nurse had given them.

Dr. Stein turned to look at the two newcomers of the room. "Maka, Soul. Glad to see you two here. Everyone listen up, cause I'm not going to repeat myself."

Everyone shuffled forward to Dr. Stein and opened their ears. A look of extreme interest was implanted in their young teen faces.

"You all know that the Kishin is still alive, hiding somewhere on this Earth. Although the wavelength of madness in the world has decreased by a huge margin, the world will never fully recover from it as long as the Kishin continues to live and emits his insanity wavelength. In order to find him, Shibuen will be sending elite squads around the world to track him down. All of you are members of this squad."

Black Star raised a cast covered arm. "AWESOME! Does this squad have a badass name?"

"Well Shinigami-sama was going to call it Shibu-Kids Squad-"

"What? That's freaking lame!"

"-but I changed it to Spartoi instead. Interrupt me again Black Star and I'll dissect you." Black Star visibly paled at that thought. Dr. Stein looked over at both Kid and Maka. "You two will play a vital role in the search, since you two have powerful Soul Perception abilities."

Maka raised her hand slightly. "What will we do when we find the Kishin?"

"You are to report his location immediately. You will not face him alone. All members of Spartoi and the staff of Shibusen will be sent to deal with him. We'll either kill him or drag him back to Shinigami-sama, whatever is easier."

Kid raised his hand as well. "But father can move around now because of Death City Robo. Why can't we just use that to track down and hunt the Kishin?"

"Operating the robot isn't an easy feat. Also there were many… complaints about the city spinning around and about the property damage. As well as many complaints about motion sickness. We might use it as a last resort."

"How is my father? Is he doing well?"

"He's recovering just fine. He's still as chipper as ever."

Kid's face lit up with a small smile and he relaxed in his bed a bit. "That's good…"

Dr. Stein sat on a nearby rolling chair and continued his speech. "Once all of you have fully recovered, you'll all be going through special training. Each meister and weapon group will be trained by a personal special tutor. Black Star and Tsubaki will be trained by the newly recruited swords master of Shibusen, Mifune."

"SWEET! I want a rematch with him!"

"Death the Kid and the Thompson sisters will be trained by Shinigami-sama."

"To be personally trained by father? What an honor!"

"Crona and Ragnarok will be trained by Marie and Sid."

"Ah… But I don't know how to deal with zombies…"

"And Maka and Soul will be trained by Spirit and I. Does anyone have any more questions?"

"No sir!" Everyone chanted in unison.

"Good. Now all of you get your rest." Everyone immediately began to chat about their tutors and about the plans to hunt down the Kishin. Stein looked over at Maka. "Maka, since you just woke up recently, you'll need a medical checkup. We mind as well do it now since we're at a hospital."

"Ok. Soul," Soul's attention was on Maka in split second. "There's something in my old hospital room that I need you to pick up and bring home."

"What is it you need me to pick up?"

"You'll know it when you see it. Well, see you later, everyone." Everyone said their goodbyes to Maka as she left the room with Dr. Stein. In a short while, they entered a nearby medical room. After Maka changed out of her clothes into a hospital gown from behind the privacy of a curtain, Dr. Stein checked her blood pressure.

Dr. Stein wrapped Maka's arm with the inflatable cuff. After placing the chill ring of the stethoscope over the area in which the brachial artery was, Dr. Stein filled the cuff of the blood pressure meter with air. As he pumped the device with air, Dr. Stein asked Maka questions concerning her health. "How are you feeling Maka? Feeling any pain? Any problems at all?"

"I feel fine. And I have no pain whatsoever. And I have no problems… Except one."

"Really?" Dr. Stein slowly deflated the cuff of air. "What's the problem?"

"I had been having these really strange hallucinations lately. At random times I hallucinate that the Kishin is in the same room as me. The hallucinations are so lifelike and real, it's like he's really here in Death City."

"That's strange; the madness wavelength shouldn't have any effect on you." He unwrapped the cuff off of Maka's arm. "Your blood pressure is normal."

"Yeah, but the Kishin directly infected me with his wavelength. He…um…" Maka looked down at her feet. Her cheeks turned slightly pink with embarrassment. "Well, he, uh, kissed me to infect me and such."

A deep frown embedded into Dr. Stein's face as his eyes narrowed. "I'll tear that perverted bastard apart. Did he do anything else to you?"

"No." _At least I don't think he did._ Maka thought nervously. _I did faint after that kiss. God I hope he didn't do anything else._

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. Is there any way to get rid of this infection? The hallucinations are getting really bothersome."

"Let me check your soul first." Dr. Stein closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them again, Soul Perception was already activated. He peered at Maka's soul and didn't see anything strange. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with her soul. It was the same pure blue color with two odd little shapes sticking out of the side. _The shape of Maka's soul is a bit unusual. But other than that I don't see anything wrong with it._

"How is it, Dr. Stein?"

"I don't see anything strange on your soul. But it's better to be safe than sorry; I'll get Marie to use her Redemption wavelength on you. That should help stop the hallucinations."

"Thank you, Dr. Stein. Can you not mention any of this to Soul? Or to my father?"

"You're a minor, Maka. Spirit has the right to know, being your father and legal guardian and all."

"But's papa is going to be hysterical when he finds out the Kishin kissed me! He'll go on a rampage to kill the man who violated his daughter's lips!"

"…True. Fine, I won't tell Spirit."

"Thank you."

And so the checkup continued. The rest of the checkup carried on smoothly. Maka's physical health seemed perfectly fine, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with her. She changed back into her clothes and left the room to find everyone else. When Maka returned to Black Star and Kid's room, she could see that the girls and Crona have left already.

"Hey guys. Where did everyone else go?"

"Hey Maka!" Black Star waved one of broken arms to her. "Tsubaki and the others left to help Soul bring some flowers home or something. You still need to sign my cast!"

"Fine, fine." Maka went over and scribbled her name on the cast that actually had space to write anything on it. "Is there anything else you need?"

"Nah I'm good."

Maka looked over at Kid in his bed, and noticed that he was having a staring contest with the medical cabinet. "Um… Is there anything you want, Kid?"

"Actually, Maka, if you would be ever so kind as to rearrange the cabinet in front of me to be symmetrical, then-"

"Whoops it's getting late I should be going now so see you two later!" Those words barely managed to escape her lips before she sprinted out of the room. Maka quickly left the hospital and was now standing in front of the entrance. _I don't feel like going home now… I guess I'll just walk around for a while._And so Maka began her little trip around the city.

* * *

All was peaceful in Death City. Other than the debris everywhere due to the entire city being uprooted for the operation of Death City Robo, life for the denizens of the city was peaceful. While the construction workers repaired the broken buildings, everyone else carried on with their life. Shopkeepers tried to get people to buy their goods, mothers were busy buying food for their families, and children were running around playing with their friends. _Even though the Kishin is still at large, people can still go on with their lives._ _How amazing._ Maka quietly observed the population calmly live their lives as she walked around. Before she knew it, she ended up at the local park of the city. The park was mostly empty, with only a small number of people walking around. Maka approached an empty bench and sat in it.

"I wished it was always peaceful like this." Maka mumbled to herself.

"But then the world would be a boring place."

Next to her on the bench was Kishin Asura, looking at the scenery with apathy. He slouched in his seat and leaned closer to Maka, to which Maka responded by moving as far as she can away from him.

"How many times are you gonna pop up to bother me, you damn Kishin?"

"As much as I can." Asura leaned his head on his hand and looked at the passer bys and the surrounding buildings for several seconds. "So this is the city Shinigami built above my body. It's so boring."

"I thought the purpose of you infecting me was to learn about courage, not to criticize my friends and where I live."

"Can't I do both at once?" Asura glanced at her with a sly smile.

"You want to learn about courage, right? There are plenty of other sources to learn about it. Books, lectures, philosophers, Aristotle, religion, Tao Te Ching, Wikipedia, Google! Any of them are fine, as long as you quit freaking stalking me!"

"Do you think I hadn't tried that before? I have. Words on a paper do not properly convey the true meaning of something as complex as courage." Asura playfully poked Maka's cheek and leaned closer to her. "If a teacher cannot teach a student a lesson in one way, then shouldn't they try another method to teach that student?"

"Hmph." Maka would never admit it, but she was impressed. She always figured that Asura would be a man indifferent to intellectual values. A simple, cowardly philistine who ran away from everything with his tail between his legs. Knowing that he's actually trying to learn something he doesn't understand instead of ignoring it improved Maka's opinion on the Kishin, but only a little. _He's not running away from something he's afraid of for once._ _So he isn't a complete coward after all._

Asura stretched his long limbs and leaned back on the bench. He looked up at the red sky that had spots of blue peeking through. It was a perfect balance of red and blue. "Tell me sweetie-"

"Don't call me that."

"Then what should I call you?"

"Call me by name, Maka Albarn."

"Then stop calling me Kishin. You say it so harshly all the time. My name is Asura, not Kishin. Call me by my real name too."

"…Fine."

"So Maka," He liked the way the name rolled off his tongue. It was such a short, simple name that was straight to the point, much like the girl it named. "Why do you listen to Shinigami?"

Silence was her response. Maka had never thought about that. Why did she listen to Shinigami-sama? Was it because she wanted to, or because she was told to? She could see Asura was waiting for her response. "I listen to him because… he holds the same beliefs that I believe in."

"You hesitated. You're not sure why, are you?"

"Why don't you shut up and mind your own business?"

"Hehe," Asura's smirk widened. "You call me a coward all the time, yet here you are, avoiding my question. You're no better than me. Why don't you just be honest? Lying isn't your thing."

_Damn it,_ Maka thought to herself. She silently glared at Asura. _He's right. I'm running away from answering his question. I'm a hypocrite._"… I don't know why."

"Now that's more like it. Is it because you were told to?"

"Yes, I suppose…"

"By who?"

"My father, my mother, all of the adults."

"And you just do what they tell you to? They could be lying, you know."

"I know that, but why would they lie? There's nothing to gain from lying."

"But they can still lie."

"I know. But I still trust them."

Asura brought his gaze down from the sky and directed it to Maka. She was looking at the scenery with a serene look on her face. _She looks so much better without that scowl on her face._He thought quietly to himself. "To know the consequences of an action, yet still do it anyway. Is that courage?"

"Not necessarily. Doing that all the time would just be recklessness. When it comes to courage, I say there is a balance."

"A balance of what?"

"Well, from the books from Aristotle, The Nichomachean Ethics, he said that courage was the mean between recklessness and cowardice. So I guess a balance between recklessness and cowardice? Confidence and fear?"

"You sound confused. Do you not know what courage is either?"

"I'll be honest, no, I don't. Like you said, something as complex as courage isn't easily understood. All I know is that it's the opposite of madness. I guess I shouldn't shun you for not understanding when I myself don't fully understand it as well."

For a second, Asura just stared at Maka with wide eyes of astonishment. After a while, his faced widened into a sincere smile and he laughed. Not a sinister laugh, but a laugh straight from the heart. The sudden outburst slightly scared Maka.

_What the hell is going on?_ Maka thought, thoroughly confused about the situation "Why are you laughing? Was it something I said? It's kinda creeping me out."

"This is the first time that we ever agreed on something."

"And that's something worth celebrating?"

"When it comes to talking to someone as stubborn as you, yes."

Maka skeptically looked at him. A tiny smile of amusement cracked on her face. "You're weird. I'll be glad to get rid of you once Marie-sensei uses her Redemption wavelength on me."

"Do you really think that will work?"

"Of course it will. It worked on Dr. Stein, and he's freaking bonkers. It should work fine on me."

"But that man was easily influenced by external insanity wavelengths, right?"

"Yes."

"Then that would mean he's also sensitive to other external forces, right? That's why the Redemption wavelength worked on him, cause his soul is sensitive to all types of external wavelengths. You on the other hand, are very resistant to external insanity. Maybe you're immune to all outside wavelengths, not just madness."

Silence was once again Maka's response. _Dr. Stein is capable of adapting his soul wavelength to others. Is it because of that? He's vulnerable to all outside wavelengths? And I haven't been affected by any wavelength at all cause my soul is resistant to all? So even good wavelengths can't affect me?_

"Aren't you going to answer me?"

"…Maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong. It's still worth the shot at trying anyway. It's better than nothing." Maka got up from the bench. "I'm going home." And she walked away, leaving Asura alone on the bench. He just stared at Maka's small figure get smaller as she continued to walk away.

Deep in his heart, he wanted to be right. That Maka's soul is resistant to all wavelengths, and the Redemption wavelength wouldn't work on her. He just didn't know why. Maka's figure was just a small speck among the masses of people now. He looked up at the red and blue sky before finally fading away.

"Why do I even care?"

* * *

And that's it for chapter 7! I made it extra, extra long to make up for the long time I didn't update!

By the way, the proper name of a blood pressure meter is sphygmomanometer (a real tongue twister, ain't it?). I had to use it in Anatomy class to check blood pressure. It takes a lot of practice to keep track to the measurement of the systole and diastole of the ventricles. And finding the damn brachial artery in the arm. I swear my classmate is a zombie.

EXTRA~

Soul: Maka said there was something I needed to pick up, I wonder what it is? She said I'll know it when I see it *heads to Maka's hospital room*

Soul: *enters room. Sees crapload of flowers* …Well I know what I need to pick up now. God damn it Maka.

MEANWHILE

Maka: ACHOO!

Asura: Bless you. Are you sick?

Maka: No, I'm not. But I bet Soul found all of the flowers.

Keep it cool folks! And thanks for reading! And sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes!


	8. Redemption for the Sinner

Hey everybody! Again, thanks for all of the reviews! You're all so good to me! ;_;

Question! Whenever I type an exclamation point and question mark together, it ends up only being a question mark when I upload it. Is that supposed to happen? Is the program I'm using the reason for this? I use Microsoft Office Word to type up my stories. It's really annoying me.

Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater~

* * *

After Maka had returned to her sparkly apartment, the rest of the day passed peacefully. Well, as peacefully as it can get after several hours of Maka and Soul arguing about what to do with the flowers ("We should at least throw some of them away!" "NO! We're keeping all of them!"). Much to her pleasure, Asura didn't pop up again to bother her as the day proceeded. As much as she welcomed the peace and quiet granted by being herself, Maka couldn't help but feel a bit strange. Was she getting used to the presence of Asura? Maka quickly shook the idea out of her head as soon as it entered and went on with her business.

The dawn of a new day has risen, and Maka was quietly getting ready to head to Dr. Stein's lab. During the previous day Dr. Stein had called her to set up an appointment with Marie early in the morning. Needless to say Maka was excited about the proposition of finally being rid of the hallucinations and eagerly got ready to leave. She quickly changed into suitable clothes and exited her room quietly in order to not wake up Soul. Much to her surprise, Soul was already up and making breakfast.

"Eh, you're already awake, Soul? You're never up this early. And it's my turn to cook breakfast today."

"I know," Soul responded, he kept his back turned to Maka as he continued to cook. "But you're injured. It's not good for you to overwork yourself."

Maka crossed her arms and pouted. "This again? Honestly Soul, I'm perfectly fine! I can handle the simple task of making breakfast." As Maka complained, Soul laid out the buffet he made on the table. The meal he made was big enough to make both Black Star and Patti completely full. Just looking at all of the food laid out made Maka feel like she was already ate a full course meal. "…Isn't this a bit too much? Eating 1/10 of this meal would probably make anyone gain 15 pounds."

"As a recovering patient, you'll need plenty of nourishment."

Both Maka and Soul took their seats at the table. While Maka just stared at the enormous meal laid out before her, Soul finally noticed the attire Maka was wearing.

"Are you going somewhere, Maka?"

"Yeah, I'm heading to Dr. Stein's place."

"Why?"

Within a second, Maka quickly thought up a lie. "He wants to do another check up on me, that's all."

"Why? Is there something wrong?"

"There's nothing wrong. Dr. Stein just wants to conduct a more thorough medical checkup."

"Oh…ok."

Maka stopped eating her large breakfast for a second and quickly glanced at Soul. He was just sitting in his seat, staring at his food with an absent expression. He hadn't even touched his food yet. Upon closer inspection, Maka could make out a barely visible look of distraught in his eyes.

"Are you ok, Soul? You've been acting a bit crazy lately."

"I'm fine."

"You're lying. What's wrong? You can tell me what's bothering you."

Soul directed his eyes from his now cold food to Maka. He could see that she was concerned about him and was expecting him to answer. The few bandages that wrapped up Maka's injuries caught his attention, and he promptly looked back down at his breakfast. "There's nothing wrong with me. I'm fine."

Maka began to open her mouth, clearly with the intent to continue asking Soul questions, but she quickly clamped her mouth shut. She looked around at the sparkling clean apartment that was currently decked out in flowers_. First the spotless apartment, and now this huge breakfast. Something is definitely wrong with him. But it's not right for me to ask Soul to tell his secrets when I'm keeping a secret from him myself._ "Are you sure?" Maka asked worriedly one final time.

"Yes, I'm fine."

The duo continued eating the rest of their breakfast in silence. Maka occasionally casted worried glances at Soul as he absentmindedly ate his food. After eating as much food as she could, Maka silently got up from her seat and headed towards the only exit of the apartment.

"I'm heading to Dr. Stein's place now. I'll be back soon."

"Do you want me to escort you there?

"No, I'll be fine." Maka opened the door and made her way out, but before she left, she looked back at Soul once more. "See you later." With that said, Maka gently closed the door shut.

The door was already shut, but Soul kept his gaze locked on the door.

"See you later…"

* * *

Now alone in the empty apartment, Soul quietly gathered up the leftovers of the feast he made. _Black Star would appreciate the meal. I should bring the leftovers to him at the hospital. _He packed up the food while he disinterestedly wondered where Blair was. In the corner of his mind, he could hear the familiar, annoying cackle of a red demon that lurked within the black room of his soul.

_Still worried about the welfare of your meister, I see. I'm surprised that you didn't end up following her._

_Mind your own business._

_But your business is my business. After all, we are the same person. _The little demon sat on the only chair in the dark room. He kicked his legs in his seat as he continued to inwardly laugh at Soul's internal turmoil. _If you were stronger, you wouldn't have to worry about your partner being in danger all the time. You would be strong enough to protect your precious meister, no matter what._

_I will get stronger! Maka and I will train our butts off to get stronger!_

_And what will you do if that doesn't work?_

Soul's hand froze for a second as he reached to pack another uneaten food. What if he doesn't get stronger through training? The other ways to get stronger are limited in numbers. What else could he do to get more powerful in order to protect Maka?

_You remember the night in which the Kishin was revived well, don't you? The battle you and your meister held with the failed Kishin was nigh impossible to win without my intervention. Your meister's strength shot up by the dozens when she was drowning in madness. Do the same and the path to power will be opened to you._

Silence was Soul's response.

_Take your time and think about it. Remember, the doors to the black room are always opened._ The little demon laughed as he cut off communication with Soul. Soul could still hear the laughter echo throughout his mind long after the little demon faded away.

_Power, huh?_

_

* * *

_

The morning sun shone brightly and warmed Maka's body and soul as she made her way to Dr. Stein's lab. The streets of Death City were empty, save for the shopkeepers who were getting their shops ready for business and the construction workers who were beginning their work of repairing the city. The quietness of the city and the relatively long distance to Dr. Stein's lab left Maka plenty of time to think.

'_Maybe you're immune to all wavelengths, and not just madness.'_

Asura's words from their last conversation rang throughout Maka's mind. What if he was right? What will she do then? Surely she would go mad if the infection in her stayed deep within her soul. _Well, if direct infection worked for Asura, then it should work for Marie-sensei! Ah, but directly infecting someone's soul isn't an easy task, is it? _Maka was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she didn't notice that she had arrived at the Patchwork Lab and almost walked pass it. With anxiety building up within her, Maka entered the stitched up laboratory.

When she entered the building, she was quickly greeted by Dr. Stein. "Welcome, Maka. I already told Marie about your situation, and she promised to keep it a secret as well." With that said, Dr. Stein led Maka into a nearby room, where Marie patiently waited. She got up from her seated and welcomed Maka with a warm smile.

"Maka! It's good to see you awake! How are you? Are you in any pain?"

"I'm fine. Except for my little problem, anyway."

"Oh, that! Don't worry Maka, just leave it to your teacher! Are you ready?"

"I'm ready."

Marie gently placed her hand on Maka's chest. Maka closed her eyes in nervous anticipation. _Will it work?_

"Redemption wavelength."

A soft glow was emitted from Marie's hand and surrounded Maka's body. Like the warm rays of the sun, the warmth of the Redemption wavelength embraced Maka's body. Within a few seconds, the yellow glow faded away from Maka's body, and so did the warmth. Maka opened her eyes, waiting for something, anything to happen.

Dr. Stein was the first to break the silence. "Well? Is the infection gone?"

Maka looked at Dr. Stein with a slightly apprehensive countenance. "I can't tell. When I'm not hallucinating, everything is fine. Even when I am hallucinating, everything seems fine. I can only tell that I'm infected by seeing the Kishin, and he always pops up randomly. I don't see him right now, though."

"How about we see how well you fare for the rest of the day? If you hallucinate again you can come back and we'll try another way to fix the problem." Marie said cheerfully.

"Ok." Even though Marie's wavelength lifted a great weight off her mind, Maka still felt nervous. "Hey, can I ask a question?"

"Of course! Anything for my student!" Marie cheerfully exclaimed. Extreme interest was implanted on Marie's face as she eagerly waited for Maka's question. Dr. Stein waited to, but with much less eagerness.

"How hard is it for a soul wavelength to affect another soul?"

Marie's happy face changed quickly into a pondering one. Dr. Stein furrowed his brows as well with contemplation. After a few seconds of silence, Dr. Stein was the first to respond.

"That depends on the soul, really. Some people have very adaptable souls, and therefore can resonate well with just about anybody. Take me and Excalibur for example. I can adapt my wavelength to others, and Excalibur can be wielded by anybody. Therefore we are more open to other wavelengths. Just as there are more people who are easily affected by soul wavelengths, there are also people who have difficulty being affected, and thus usually have difficulty resonating with others."

Marie nodded her head enthusiastically in agreement, while Maka stood there in slight awe. _So Asura was right about the souls' vulnerability to other wavelengths. But is he right about me? _"Is it difficult to directly affect other people's souls?"

"Very much so!" Marie cheerfully answered. "Even as a Death Scythe, direct influence on others' souls is very difficult. In a weapon and meister partnership, the only time the partners souls are directly affecting each other is through Soul Resonance, and even then not that much. A 100% complete resonance is when both souls are completely open to each other, and thus the souls are able to directly affect each other. But a complete resonance is practically impossible to pull off. One must have a really strong soul in order to affect another soul while skipping the resonance part."

"Oh, I see." Maka quietly responded. Complete resonance, huh? Had she and Soul ever achieved it? Maka remembered being able to access Soul's soul when they were resonating once. During that time of the Kishin revival, while battling with Crona. In the midst of battle and resonance, she was able to enter the black room of Soul. Now that she thought about it, entering Soul's soul was quite easy. But Soul never entered her soul during resonance before, had he?

"Is there any other questions you want to ask?" Dr. Stein's question snapped Maka out of her short trance.

"Ah, no. Thank you so much for your help, Dr. Stein, Marie-sensei. I should be returning home now or Soul will worry about me."

"No problem."

"Come back if there's any problems, ok? We would be happy to help you at anytime of the day!"

And thus the two teachers of Shibusen escorted their student off the premises of the stitched up lab. Maka headed off to her apartment after waving goodbye to her teachers. As she walked, Maka nervously checked her surroundings. She expected for Asura to pop up at anytime, anywhere. To her relief, her trip back home was left undisturbed by any insane gods.

When she arrived at her apartment, Soul had packed all of the food from breakfast into containers, and was about to head off to the hospital. Despite Soul's protest, Maka tagged along and help carry some containers of food to the hospital.

* * *

Throughout the course of the day, the anxiety in Maka kept building up. She was afraid that Asura would appear before her eyes at any moment. It wasn't that she was afraid of the Kishin himself. A skinny weirdo like him was going to need to do much more to make her afraid of him. Maka knew that seeing Asura again would mean that she was still infected, and that he was right.

She was afraid that Asura understood her more than she understood herself.

The idea of her enemy knowing her more than she did herself scared her. She apprehensively looked over shoulder throughout the day, nervously checking if Asura was standing right behind her. She inspected every corner of the hospital room Black Star and Kid inhabited. She paid special attention to what was behind her friends as she talked to them. She looked in the reflections of the windows as she walked around the city with Crona and Soul, just waiting for a tall, skinny figure wrapped in bandages to appear on the reflective glass. She glanced nervously around her as her father gushed over his precious baby girl and how much he loved her. Not a single corner was left uncheck. All of Maka's senses were open, just waiting for Asura to materialize at any moment. She was fearfully expecting him to come at anytime now.

What will she do if she sees him again?

Maka's nerves were still riled up well after the laughing sun has set and the grinning moon has risen. The unease continued to last throughout dinner with Soul and Blair, who had finally returned home after being god knows where. Even though everyone now in her home has left the conscious realm to dream land, Maka was still awake. After an hour of paranoia, fatigue began to catch up with Maka. The uneasiness she felt throughout the day began to fade away with her consciousness. _Maybe he was wrong after all…_ Maka smiled tiredly to herself, and got off her seat located in front of her desk and headed to bed.

Just as she was about to reach her bed, long, skinny fingers wrapped around her face, effectively blocking her vision.

"Guess who."

And just like that Maka was snapped out of her fatigue. "A-Asura!"

"Bingo. Would you like a kiss as an award?"

Maka wrestled herself out of Asura's grip and clumsily stumbled onto her bed as she turned around to face him. With the aid of the moonlight, Maka could see the tall, skinny frame of Asura standing before her. His scarves wriggled around his body rather enthusiastically as the smirk on Asura's face widened with triumph. He sat down on Maka's bed and continued to smirk at Maka. Maka glared right back at him.

"What are you doing here? And why the hell are you so damn happy? Wipe that grin off your face!"

"Shhhh." Asura placed a finger on Maka's lips to stop her angry rant. "So loud. You wouldn't want to wake everyone up, do you?"

Maka immediately removed his hand off her lips, and continued her rant in harsh whispers. "Why are you here?"

"Because I'm right."

A surge of fear and disappointment flooded Maka's heart. She dropped her gaze to her hands that now lay limply on her lap. "…So this isn't a dream, huh? This is reality?"

"This is reality." Asura gently lifted Maka's chin up, and stared directly into her eyes. "Looks like you're stuck with me."

Angered, Maka shook Asura's grip off and glared angrily to the side, her eyes burning holes into the darkness. Asura just grinned amusingly at Maka. He found her quite cute when she's pouting like that.

"You were looking around rather nervously the whole day. Did you miss me?"

"Hell no. I was just worried that I would see your ugly mug."

"Hehe, you're so cute when you're upset."

"Shut up." Maka turned her glare away from the darkness and directed it to Asura. "Why don't you just go away?"

"You're just upset that the wavelength didn't work on you."

"Of course I would be. Now I have to find another way to get rid of you."

Asura shifted his body to get a better view out the window that was situated near Maka's bed. He looked at the grinning moon, and then down to the few people walking in the streets below the apartment. "Am I really that bothersome to you?"

"Duh. You're like a freaking stalker. If I could, I would get a restraining order on you."

Asura turned his attention back at Maka. The moonlight lit his face up, and what Maka saw surprised her. Even though his expression was mostly blank, his eyes… To some extent, they held sadness. _Did I upset him or something?_ Maka thought confusedly.

"Hey Maka."

"What?"

"You want to kill me, right?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because you're my enemy. I'm supposed to kill my enemy."

The small bit of sadness in Asura's eyes altered into anger. He swiftly moved closer to Maka. The sudden movement startled Maka, for she jolted her body back, away from Asura. This only motivated him to lean closer.

"Is that is? You want to kill me for reasons like that? Because I'm your enemy, and you have to kill the enemy?" The volume of Asura's voice was increasing with each question. Closer and closer he moved towards Maka, who was now trapped in the corner of her bed. His expression turning more furious and Maka could honestly say she was terrified. Her eyes widened as Asura was practically on top of her, her heart pounding wildly in her chest.

"What are you..?" Maka nervously squeaked out.

"Let me guess, you were told to do so, weren't you? By your father, by your mother, by Shinigami? A reason to kill a person shouldn't be as simple as that! No action can be done successfully without any personal feelings put into it!" His harsh whispers now angry shouts, Asura grabbed Maka by the shoulders and pulled her closer to him. Their noses barely brushing each other as Asura glared at Maka with absolutely livid eyes. "I will not let you kill me with such flimsy motivations!"

"I-I…" Fear was bubbling up within Maka all too strongly. Where was courage when she needed it?

"**DON'T KILL ME FOR SUCH HALF-ASSED REASONS LIKE THAT**!"

Asura's grip on Maka tightened with incredible strength. His eyes still burned with anger, his breathing now harsh and ragged. Then he noticed something. Maka's eyes were sparkling a bit. _What? Sparkling? _Upon closer inspection, he observed that the sparkles were actually… tears. Immediately all of the anger inside of him disappeared. He loosened his grip and let go of Maka. Even though he backed away from her, Maka still sat frozen in her position, shaking a little with tears still welling up in her eyes.

"Maka…I'm-"

"Get out."

Through her tears, Maka was giving her fiercest glare to Asura. A flurry of emotions swelled within Asura, with fear being the most prominent. But it was a different kind of fear from normal. Not the fear he usually had; the fear of dying. It was a different kind of fear that he was unfamiliar with. He didn't like it one bit either.

And so Asura faded away, leaving a small, shaking girl alone on her bed.

* * *

In an abandoned building separated far from society lived a skinny, tall man wrapped in bandages, all alone. In a dusty, old room, the lanky man laid in a rotting bed. He had just woken up, and was currently looking out the only window of the room and at the sky. Deep in his heart still swirled a storm of emotions that confused the thin man known as the demon god of insanity. The teary face of petite girl was implanted in his mind. Why couldn't he forget that face? Why did he care? She was the enemy after all. Eventually they would have to fight, and one of them will end up dead as the result. So why did he care what she thought about him? And most importantly…

Why did he feel so guilty for making her cry?

Asura angrily turned away from his window and tried to go back to sleep. But sleep would prove to be unbeneficial to him as well.

Maka's terrified expression haunted him in dream land too.

* * *

And that's it for chapter 8! Wow! An extremely long chapter! Truthfully, this is really a bunch of chapters combined into a long one. I combined them cause I don't want my story to have too many chapters. Yeah, I'm weird like that.

EXTRA~

Maka: *sniff*

Asura: I'm sorry, Maka.

Maka: *sniff* Go away, you bastard. *sniff*

Asura: *hugs Maka* I'm really sorry. I promise to never make you cry ever again.

Maka: …You bastard. *hugs back*


	9. The Importance of Details

Yo what's up everybody! It's been quite a while since I've updated, yeah? Sorry about that folks! I'll try to speed up my update time. I've been trying to compensate for my long periods of no updates with longer chapters. Thank you all so much for being patient! And for all of the reviews too! You're all great!

Disclaimer: Soul Eater belongs to Atsushi Ohkubo!

* * *

Several suns and moon have passed since that nightly incident with Maka and Asura. Black Star and Kid have miraculously made a full recovery quite speedily despite having broken bones. Each young member of Spartoi had begun their training with their tutors, sometimes having joint training sessions with each other. Sometimes the young teens would continue their collection of Kishin souls. Maka and Soul in particular had tirelessly worked hard to collect Kishin souls, and were once again at the 99 mark. With insanity growing slightly stronger every day, finding those with Kishin souls was becoming an easy task. Now they were waiting for a witch to be found for them. A real witch this time. Slowly but surely the young teens are getting stronger and stronger. Soon the hunt for the Kishin will begin around the world.

Ever since that fateful night, Maka had been religiously visiting Dr. Stein and Marie at the stitched up laboratory. Every day they would try a different method of getting rid of the insanity infection in Maka's soul. Whether it was transferring the Redemption wavelength to a sleeping Maka or attempting a Soul Resonance: none of them worked. The immunity to madness that saved Maka from falling into insanity is now keeping her from being rescued. Maka's hopes of getting rid of the infection erode each day she sees the Kishin once again.

Things had been rather tense between our young heroine and the demon god of insanity. Every day, Asura would appear before Maka, but each time he wouldn't say a single word. The confused god wanted to say something, anything to make amends; but not a single word of sincere apology could enter his mind. It didn't matter anyway. Whenever he appeared before Maka, she would ignore him and just leave the room. Even though she ignored him, Asura still appeared, quietly observing her from the background while trying to think of what to say.

* * *

_What should I do?_

'_A reason to kill a person shouldn't be as simple as that!'_

Now that a good amount of time has passed, Asura's angry shouts no longer scared Maka, but confused her greatly. It made her think too much. Why should she kill the Kishin? Although a demon god, he was once a human being, and a human life shouldn't be taken so lightly. Unlike the other monsters she fought with Kishin egg souls, Asura was capable of actual thoughts and feelings.

Killing Asura is the same as killing a human being, Kishin or not.

So what can justify her wanting to kill a human being? Because he ate thousands of innocent souls? But that was something she was told was bad, wasn't it? By Shinigami-sama?

'_Why do you listen to Shinigami_?'

Her whole life, she followed the laws placed by those with authority without question. She had never doubted their words before. Shinigami-sama is a good guy after all, and therefore what he says is right.

Right?

'_Why don't you just be honest? Lying isn't your thing._'

Sure she still trusted him and all of the adults; they would never lie to her or do anything bad to her. But now she began to question whether or not what they say is right. The Kishin had never done anything to her that warranted her to kill him. He yelled at her, but she gets yelled at all the time by others too. Mostly by Black Star. And she would yell back at him too. Their previous battle was started by her, and he was just doing what he could to stay alive, and that is to kill her. Anyone would kill the person that was trying to end their lives. Asura ate the innocent souls of thousands of humans, but unless he hunted after her soul, none of that affected her personally. Who was she to decide what is right or wrong anyway? It's ok for weapons to eat the souls of witches. Their morality might be questionable, but most witches haven't done anything to harm innocent people either. Medusa and a few others may have committed rather atrocious acts, but not all witches are bad. Besides, can human morals apply to higher beings? And the madness wavelength that he emitted can't affect her, so she would be safe.

So why should she consider Asura her personal enemy?

'_**DON'T KILL ME FOR SUCH HALF-ASSED REASONS LIKE THAT!**_'

_Damn it, what should I do? I can't think straight anymore… I need to think for myself, and not just do what I'm told. What it is my own opinion on this matter?_

Maka looked out her window to the night sky. The night sky peeked through shades of red. What little of the night sky that could be seen was speckled with millions of tiny, bright stars. As per usual, the moon was grinning its normal goofy grin. The night reminded her of the fear she felt that night with Asura. The strong fear that blocked all reasoning in her mind and paralyzed her body frozen. It consumed her so greatly that she couldn't even form proper thoughts or sentences. She was afraid that Asura would kill her, right then and there. A fear she had never felt so strongly before.

The fear of dying.

Because of it, she could slightly understand why Asura chose to become the Kishin. That terrible feeling… she wanted to do anything to make it go away, to never feel it again. To be strong enough to never feel the fear of dying ever again. Even if it means to commit a great sin and eat the souls of pure humans.

_So these are the feelings of the first Kishin, huh? He's not as stupid as I thought._

_

* * *

_

_What should I do?_

'_Get out._'

The guilt that Asura felt for making Maka cry has never diminished, despite all the time that has passed. In fact, the ugly, unfamiliar feeling was getting worse. That teary face, that fierce glare… the image was getting more and more vibrant in his mind with each passing day. No matter what he did, that image wouldn't go away. That was the angriest expression he had ever seen on Maka's face. Before, every time he made Maka upset, all she did was yell and pout. He didn't expect no different when he yelled at her. But she cried. And now he was feeling bad for making her so sad.

But why?

He is the demon god of insanity. He shouldn't be feeling any emotions at all. He attacked the bystanders that watched his battle with Shinigami in the Death Room without any problems. He killed Arachne without a shadow of a doubt. He ate his faithful partner Vajra without any worries. He killed innocent humans and ate their souls without any guilt. All of his actions, he did to get powerful. All to avoid the fear of dying. All done without any remorse, any feelings at all.

Apparently Maka was the exception.

He knew he had to apologize, but he couldn't think of a proper way of saying it. But he couldn't work up the courage to say it. What if she didn't forgive him and still hated him? What would he do then? He was afraid of how she would react to his apology. _Now would be a really nice time to know what courage really is…_ Asura thought angrily to himself. Again, he couldn't understand why he cared what she thought about him.

Asura looked around the room he occupied in hopes of finding an answer. It was small and dusty. A thin layer of dust covered just about everything in the room. The wooden frame of the bed he sat on was decaying and covered in dust. Between the folds of the sheets and blankets lay dust. On a nearby desk stood a flower vase filled with dead flowers, which was also covered in dust. There was dust EVERYWHERE. Whenever he moved, the dust would be disturbed and get into his eyes. _Maybe I should clean this place up_, Asura thought to himself as he rubbed the dust out of his eyes. _Ah, who cares? I'm too lazy anyway._ After getting rid of the pesky particles from his eyes, he gazed at the huge bookcase that was filled to the brim with various types of books. Also covered in dust.

_Maka likes to read books. _Asura thought absentmindedly to himself. Reading books was one of her preferred ways of ignoring him whenever he appeared before her. Maka ignored him whenever he appeared before her for quite a while. He could understand why she would want to avoid him, so he could handle it. But what really bothered him was when she would ignore him by paying more attention to her friends. Asura couldn't help but feel hatred toward anyone that Maka directed her happy smile to. He wanted to throttle that pink-haired kid. He wanted to throw the loud blue-headed kid out a window. He wanted to strangle the Shinigami brat. He especially wanted to break the bones of the albino scythe boy.

'_If I didn't know any better, I say you were jealous.'_

Jealous? Then that would imply that he actually liked that twig of a girl. The flat-chested girl who looks pissed off all the time, who swears like a sailor, who isn't hesitant to use violence at any given moment. A girl who was actually pretty interesting to talk to and entertaining to bother. A silly girl who only talks gently to people she is close to. A scrawny, weak girl who can be sweet one moment and harsh the next. A stupid girl who never looks at him with such a happy expression!

His train of thought crashed into a stop. He is jealous. He is really jealous. So that means…

He actually likes Maka?

"That's ridiculous! I'm a Kishin! Kishins do not like anyone!" Asura yelled, apparently trying to convince some unknown opponent. His voice echoed throughout the empty, dusty room.

'_There's nothing to gain from lying.'_

Asura's lazy sitting position slouched even further on the bed. He remembered the rare, few moments that Maka wasn't scowling at him, and for once was at peace around him. He remembered that he thought Maka looked infinitely times better without that glare.

'_And that's something worth celebrating?'_

Asura grabbed the nearby dust covered pillow and buried his head into it, ignoring the dust that got into his eyes.

'_You're weird.'_

_...I like Maka._

He finally understood why he felt all of those feelings now, but only slightly. But the new revelation didn't make him feel any better. In fact, he felt even more confused. The storm of emotions he felt because he liked Maka: the guilt, the fear, the jealousy… He didn't like them one bit. What once started out as mild interest spiraled into something worse. Like? Possibly even love? What is he suppose to do to deal with them?

Having emotions scared him.

Asura buried his head further into the dusty, old pillow. The dust was making his eyes more red and watery, but he couldn't bring himself to wipe the dust out of his eyes.

_This really sucks. What should I do?_

_

* * *

_

The sun shone brightly on the lively city that is Death City. Maka and her weapon Soul were already up, despite it being so early. They were both heading to Dr. Stein's laboratory for their training. Soul was quite insistent that they get their early every time for training, and to train as much as possible. With a tight grip on Maka's hand, Soul led the way to the stitched up laboratory the mad scientist lived in.

_I've been so preoccupied with my own problems, that I haven't paid any attention to the problems that Soul might be having. _Maka thought, eying Soul's hand that was currently holding hers in a death grip. She was beginning to lose feeling in her fingers.

"Soul, it's really unnecessary to hold my hand when we go anywhere. I think my fingers are going numb."

"Oh, sorry." Soul loosened his grip on Maka's hand, but still held it rather tightly. Maka just sighed at the fact he didn't just let go of her hand and looked at Soul's face. She could see faint shadows underneath Soul's eyes, and the eyes themselves had a wild appearance to them. His usual messy hair was even messier than normal. Soul's concentration was completely on the road and the surroundings.

"There's something wrong with you."

Soul ripped his attention off the surroundings and finally looked back at Maka. "Nonsense. I'm fine."

"No you're not! Be honest!"

"There's nothing wrong." Soul redirected his attention to the surroundings, once again eying everything with paranoid suspicion. They continued their walk in silence. Maka frowned to herself, visibly upset that Soul's condition was getting worse. _Maybe I should take him to the hospital? Or at least get him checked out by Dr. Stein. _Deep in her heart, she sensed that this situation had happened before. But when? Before she knew it, they were both in front of Dr. Stein's lab.

Dr. Stein and Spirit stood in front of the lab, apparently waiting for the duo. Spirit delightfully ran to his daughter, ready to tackle her with a big hug. Maka easily dodged his incoming glomp and he crashed into the floor. His bleeding head had left a crack in the floor.

"Good morning, Maka, Soul." Dr. Stein walked up to the two young teens, winding the screw on his head. He ignored the bleeding Death Scythe that was crying on the ground. "Today you two will be strengthening your Soul Resonance."

"Again?" Soul's tightened his grip on Maka's hand as he yelled in protest. "We've been doing this every day since our training began! When are we going to learn new moves? We'll never be able to kill a witch at this rate!"

"Learning flashy moves alone isn't going to make you stronger." Dr. Stein pulled out a cigarette and lighted it up. He blew a skull shaped puff of smoke at Soul's direction, who turned his head away in disgust. "Strengthening Soul Resonance will help the weapon and the meister increase their influence on each other's souls. The amplification power of Soul Resonance will increase by tenfold once both the meister and the weapon have their souls completely opened towards each other." Dr. Stein glanced at Maka, who nodded her head in agreement.

"…Fine."

"Alright then, you two know what to do." Dr. Stein took a step back to give them room. He finally noticed Spirit, who was just getting up from the ground, still blubbering like a baby about how his baby girl didn't love him.

Within a flash, Soul had transformed into his weapon form. Maka caught the scythe in mid-air and quickly spun Soul around for no apparent reason other than that it looked cool. After some more spinning, Maka got in a battle stance, ready to open up her soul.

"Soul Resonance!"

Maka's soul quickly amplified to an enormous size. Dr. Stein could see that her soul expanded enough to cover her entire body. The two odd protrusions on Maka's soul changed a bit, almost bearing a passing resemblance to wings. _Wings? I need to do some research on that._ Dr. Stein thought to himself. The dirt of the ground raised and the pebbles shook as the strength of the Soul Resonance increased.

* * *

Black.

The abyss Maka floated in was nothing but black. She floated around, knowing the place she needed to go to. She quickly encountered a small, blue soul floating around, which she grabbed and brought closer to her own heart. Maka closed her eyes, and when she opened them again she was in the black room of Soul. Like the other times she entered the black room, Maka was once again garbed in the black formal dress. In the red and black room lighted by only the blue light of the candles, Maka could not see her partner anywhere. The only one in the room with her was the little demon. Jazz music echoed throughout the room as Maka approached the dancing little demon.

"Where's Soul?"

_We've gone over this before, haven't we?_ The little demon carried on his jig as he answered Maka's question. _He's trying to do what you did so easily. Soul is trying to access your soul too, but like the other times you've two resonated; he's failing miserably at it. Care to dance with me to kill some time, my lady?_

"No thanks." Maka took a seat in the only chair in the room and watched the little demon dance his offbeat dance to the music. She didn't know how to open her soul up, but she tried her best to do so. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her own soul, trying to make it emit wavelengths so Soul could find it more easily.

_You've tried that each time you've come here, and look how far that has gotten you. I think it's time to give up, my lady._ Maka opened her eyes, and she could see that the little demon had finally stopped his dancing and was standing in front of her. She frowned as the little demon cackled in amusement.

"Why can't Soul access my soul?"

_Maybe cause he's a weakling? _The little demon's laughter became much heartier, which in turn made Maka's frown deeper.

"Soul's not weak. It has to be something else. What is it?"

_Why ask when you already know the answer?_

"…" Maka looked down at her hands that lay on her lap. _My soul is really annoying then. _She thought to herself. Maka looked back at the little demon, who was currently fiddling with the record player. "Can I ask you a question?"

_You already asked a ton of questions before. Don't see what's the point of asking permission to ask another question._

"What's wrong with Soul? Are you doing something to him? He's been acting weird."

The little demon laughed at the question. He kept his back to her as he switched the record on the record player. _I've done nothing to him. All of I've done is offer him the same offer I have always given. Nothing new there. But what is new is that he's actually considering it._

"What! You're totally doing something to him! Soul would never even think of accepting your offer!"

_Like I said, I haven't done anything._ The little demon had completed his task of switching the records, and now the new record was playing. It played the same song as the previous one. He snapped his fingers to the beat and looked over at the increasingly angered meister. _It's due to outside circumstances that he's changing his mind. You weren't the only one affected by the battle with the Kishin._

Maka could feel her anger spike up at the mention of that name. "How do you know that I was affected by Asura?"

_You can't see it? There's a mark of the Kishin on your forehead. Unless you're wearing it as a fashion statement, it could only mean one thing._

"What?" Maka got up from her seat and walked over to the lonely grand piano. After wiping some dust off its surface, she gazed at her forehead off the reflective surface of the piano. She lifted her bangs, and she could see it. On her forehead were red lines that took the shape of Asura's third eye. The lines themselves were very faint, just barely visible to the naked eye. The longer Maka looked at the eye, the more vibrant the eye seemed to get. "When the hell did this get here!" Maka furiously scrubbed her forehead, but much to her disappointment, the red eye still remained.

The little demon took Maka's place on the chair. Once again he was laughing at her predicament. _It wasn't there the first time you came here, but I've noticed it was getting darker over time. I didn't know your soul was so compatible with the Kishin's. You should partner up with him instead of Soul. Maybe then you can pull off a complete resonance. _

"Shut up! I would never-!"

Ba-dump.

A sound of a heartbeat reverberated throughout the room, and the black room began to melt away. The candles that lit up the room had all been blown out, the floor was breaking away beneath her feet, and the black dress she wore was melting off her body. Maka began to sink into the floor, the black and red checkered floor swallowing up her body.

_Looks like Soul couldn't connect with your soul once again. How pathetic of him._

The colors of the black and red floor mixed together to form a solid black. The floor was now pulling her body down at a quicker pace. Soon only Maka's head was the only visible body part that wasn't consumed by the ground. She ripped her hand out of the watery black goop that is now the floor and reached for the little demon.

"You still haven't told me what's wrong with Soul!"

The little demon just laughed as Maka's vain attempt to keep up the Soul Resonance. She desperately tried to pull her body out of the black muck. Only her eyes were left free from the black blood.

_Remember the nature of your soul, and that it doesn't apply to others. Remember how easy it was to access this black room. Remember the nature of the Kishin's soul, and then you'll know the answer. And most importantly, remember the incident that made me a part of Soul._

That was the last thing she heard before Maka was completely swallowed by the black blood.

* * *

Maka's expanded soul burst with a great bang as the Soul Resonance between weapon and meister ended with a failure. Both weapon and meister fell to the ground with a thud. Maka's soul quickly shrank back to normal size as Soul and Maka panted, trying to catch their breath. Soul had reverted back to his human form. His breathing was much more ragged than Maka's.

"Looks like they couldn't pull off a complete resonance again." Dr. Stein stated rather indifferently. He exhaled another puff of the cigarette.

After catching her breath, Maka looked wearily at Soul. "Are… you ok, Soul?"

"…I'm fine." He got up and helped his meister get up too. Maka noticed the disappointed look on Soul's face, and couldn't help but feel guilty. With his head fully bandaged, Spirit walked up to the two.

"How was it this time? Maka, could you access Soul's soul?"

"Yes."

"And how about you, Soul? Could you enter Maka's soul?"

Soul looked at his feet with a great look of distress. "No, I didn't."

Dr. Stein exhaled out another puff of smoke. "It's the same as before. Nothing has changed."

Distress etched deeper into Soul's face. Maka patted Soul's back with reassurance and tried to cheer him up.

"It's not your fault, Soul! My soul is just resistant to all types of wavelengths! My soul is really, really stupid! It's me and my stupid soul's fault!" Maka flailed her arms around her wildly as she tried to cheer Soul up. The silliness of her actions made Soul smile a bit.

"She's right," Dr. Stein placed a hand on Soul's shoulder in reassurance as well. "Maka's soul is highly resistant to all soul wavelengths. It's why she's immune to the madness wavelength in the air. We just need to improve the compatibility between your souls and try to open up Maka's soul a bit more." Dr. Stein pushed Soul over to Spirit. "Spirit, you train Soul in solo combat while I'll train Maka with controlling her soul."

"Ok, but you better not do anything to my daughter!"

"Yeah, yeah." And so Dr. Stein led Maka into the lab while Spirit began to train Soul. Once they were in the privacy of the lab, Maka began to ask a million of questions.

"Dr. Stein! Why isn't our Soul Resonance getting any stronger? What can I do to open my soul more?"

"Whoa, easy there." Dr. Stein placed a hand on Maka's shoulder to calm down the jittery girl. "Trying to pull off a complete resonance isn't an easy task. It's a long process that will take time."

"Then what can I do to open up my soul more? It's the immunity strength of my soul that is preventing Soul and I from pulling off a complete resonance."

"A meister can open up their soul more to their weapon if the meister can understand the weapon. Completely understanding each other is almost impossible, but just a little more understanding can help with the Soul Resonance greatly."

"But…" Maka grasped the edge of her short skirt, and fiddled with it. "No matter how many times I've asked, Soul won't tell me anything."

"Words are necessary for communicating thoughts and feelings, that's for sure. But remember, action speaks louder than words. You're a smart girl, Maka. I'm sure that if you pay attention to the little details and draw from personal experience, you'll be able to understand Soul."

Maka looked uneasily at Dr. Stein at first, but slowly nodded her head in agreement. "…Ok."

Dr. Stein patted Maka on the head and smiled at her. "Now lets give the Redemption wavelength another shot. Today might just be the day that it works."

A confident smile ended the gloomy features of Maka's face. _Nothing will get done if I remain gloomy all the time! In these troubling times I have to remain energetic! Maybe my positive energy will infect Soul too._

"Right!"

* * *

This chapter was a BIT longer than the previous chapter. I don't know about you guys, but I find making my chapters longer a personal achievement. :D Although I'm pretty sure nobody cares.

OH ZE ANGST! Don't worry; the angst won't last too long. I already got Maka out of her funk at the end of this chapter. She'll be back to her normal, angry self in the next chapter. I plan to make Asura's angst warp into some sort of awkward-boy-entering-puberty-and-first-love angst, so that should be more entertaining. XD As for Soul, well, if I tell ya now, then that would just be spoiling all the fun!

EXTRA~

Maka: *looks in mirror* This damn eye mark won't go away! *scrubs furiously*

Asura: How come you don't like the mark? I think it looks cool.

Maka: How come you don't have any eyebrows?

Asura: Don't make fun of my lack of eyebrows! They'll grow! Maybe… ;_;

Thanks for reading folks!


	10. Hunting for Witches

Heeey folks! What's up? What's good? How's it going? Again, sorry for taking such a long time to update! You're all such a patient bunch. I get distracted by things very easily. And many thanks for the reviews! They're like the sun rays that scare away the dark! I LOVE ALL OF YOU. :D

On another note, I _might_ start 2 more AsuraXMaka stories. I will still update this one of course. The first story I have planned would star a much crazier, more obsessed Asura. Love can change people for the better or worse. And in case of that story, it's changing Asura for the worse. He's descending further into madness, and he's dragging Maka with him. Sounds rather dark, yes? Not really. You think Maka will let Asura drag her down so easily? XD The second story is pure comedy. And you know how weird my sense of humor is. XD Unlike this story, in which I have a semi-vaguish idea on what's going to happen, I will completely wing those 2 stories.

But I don't know if I want to publish them now, or wait for Opposites to finish (which at its updating pace would take a long time). So what do you think? Should I publish them now, or wait? Should I ditch one possible future story cause it sounds lame? Your opinions are greatly appreciated!

Ah, who am I kidding? No one reads my blurbs. Don't blame ya though. They're stupid 100% of the time.

Disclaimer: Soul Eater belongs to Atsushi Ohkubo yo!

* * *

Athena, the Owl Witch.

Named after the Greek goddess of wisdom, she was once a docile witch that inhabited the bustling tourist city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. She made a living as an owner of a small library and as a clockmaker. Athena had live for many centuries, and was one of the oldest and wisest witches in the world. Early in her life, she had experienced the hardships of being a witch in a world dominated by Shinigami-sama. The wise witch simply got tired of living in fear of being hunted and retired from the path of a witch long ago. Being as clever as she is, she found a way to keep the Sway of Magic born in all witches at a distance from her heart. She distracted her destructive nature with the intricacies of her occupation. The delicate process of making a clock was able to keep the Sway of Magic at bay for centuries, and Athena lived her life for centuries in tranquility. Because of her relatively harmless nature and her state of being a low-classed witch, Shinigami-sama had let her live her life peace.

But then the Kishin was revived.

With the sudden surge of madness in the air that came with the Kishin's revival, the lock that held the Sway of Magic at bay was slowly chipping away. Now the lock was completely broken. No longer did the unknown clockmaker of the bustling German city exist. All that remained was the witch drowning in madness.

Athena, the Owl Witch.

Number 100.

Or more accurately, number 200.

That is the witch that Maka and Soul will hunt. With the Owl Witch's soul, their collection will finally be complete, and Soul will become a Death Scythe. A grand, momentous time for the young duo and all of Shibusen. The addition of a new Death Scythe to the Shibusen force will help greatly.

What should have been a glorious period for the young female meister was instead a period of worry. Were they ready to hunt a witch? Athena may be a relatively weak witch compared to other witches, but she was definitely the smarter than them. Quite possibly even smarter than Medusa. A weak, but skilled witch. Maka knows from experience to never underestimate those weak in physical strength or magic powers.

These worrying thoughts plagued Maka since she first heard the news of the witch after her training. During the panicking, rushed period of buying tickets to Germany, booking a hotel to stay at, packing their bags, and getting their passports, Maka was still worried about their skill level. She and Soul have not once pulled off a complete resonance.

Were they strong enough?

Maka lightly slapped herself on the cheek to get rid of the doubt that dwelled in her mind. _Enough with the negative thinking! Soul and I can do it! We will collect our 100__th__ soul!_

The grinning moon was high in the sky that was slowly being dominated by red. Madness was beginning to spread throughout the world again. The weird moon served as Maka's only companion as it shined through the widow of her room. She should be asleep by now, for early tomorrow morning they leave for Germany. But Maka, being the perfectionist that she is, couldn't help but check her bags again to see if she had all the necessities. They were staying in Germany for three weeks. Since they had to get reservations at the last minute, the hotel they were staying at wasn't going to be the best. She looked at all of the supplies she planned to bring and went over her mental checklist.

_Let's see… I have my books, my toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, towels, shampoo, conditioner, first aid medical kit, a map, and my ticket is on my desk and so is my passport. I also have my camera, __The German Language for Dummies __translation book, other various books, shoes, money, and plenty of undergarments and clothes. _Maka looked at all of these items laid out on her bed as she checked them off her mental checklist. _ Anything else I need? Oh yeah! I can't forget that!_

Sitting at the foot of her desk was a paper bag that Marie had given to her earlier that day. She had been so busy today that she didn't get the chance to even check it. Marie said it was important, so it must be important enough to bring with her to Germany. Maka walked over to it and opened it up. All she saw was white. _Eh? White? _She reached into the bag and pulled out the contents of the bag.

In her hands she held a pristine white long coat with a long split at the bottom. A small note fell out of the coat. Maka picked it up and instantly recognized the neat cursive writing of her blonde teacher. She read the contents of the note:

_Maka! This is it! You're 100th soul! I'm sure you and Soul will succeed in hunting the witch! There's nothing to worry about at all! :D_

_You're a growing girl, Maka. I've noticed that your old black coat was getting tight on you. And your skirt is getting kinda small on you too… You wouldn't want perverts to look up your skirt and at your panties! So I thought now would be a great time to give you the new official Spartoi uniform. Wear it with pride! The uniform helps others know of your higher level of skill. ^^ Spirit was the one who bought the new white coat for you. You may not like your father all too much, but he really does have the best interest for you on his mind. Even though he's a pervert. :P_

_Good luck Maka! All of at Shibusen wishes you and Soul's safe return and know that you can do it!_

_Marie_

_PS. And don't forget to bring a map! You wouldn't want to get lost in a foreign country!_

It ended with a silly drawing Marie drew of herself. The simple note decorated with hearts and smiley faces instantly lifted up Maka's mood. _Oh Marie-sensei. You writing skills are akin to a hyperactive teenage girl. _Maka thought to herself as she smiled happily. Maka dumped the rest of the contents on her bed. A sailor school girl uniform fell out, with the top covered in stitches. _Did Dr. Stein design this or something? And why a sailor school girl uniform? We live in America. This style of uniform isn't used here._

"Maka."

She snapped out of her useless contemplation and turned to look at the source of the voice. Asura was once again standing in her room. Except this time was different. The many other times he appeared before her Asura looked calm, cool, and collected. The perpetually smug and indifferent behavior he always had kind of pissed Maka off. But this time he looked rather nervous. He was currently holding a serious staring contest with the floor. His face was painted with a color that matched his eyes as he fiddled with his thumbs. She could see that he was sweating a lot. What was really different from the other times was the expression on his face. Asura always had a playful smile planted on his face before. But now he looked like he wanted to faint, vomit, and run away. Possibly all at once. This pitiful behavior Asura was in way as a refreshing as a cool breeze on a hot summer day to Maka. In a way, she found this pathetic state the great Kishin was in made him more human. And kind of cute. Maka thought he looked like a nervous, scared puppy. A big, crazy, nervous, and scared puppy.

"Um, are you ok? You look severely sick." Maka asked in slightly confused tone. Can Kishins get sick?

"I…" Asura took a deep breath and gulped nervously. "I'm fine."

"…Ok. But if you are sick, don't make a mess in my room."

Maka turned her attention back to her supplies on her bed and quietly started to pack her stuff into her bags. _Our first conversation in weeks and it's about this? _Asura lamely thought to himself. He watched Maka diligently pack her bag, and could feel the nervousness rise up in him. _Oh god I want to run away now. I should just leave right now. _Asura took a step back, ready to vanish, but he stopped himself. _No! I need to apologize now! I don't want to be ignored by Maka anymore! _He straightened himself as he mentally prepared himself.

"Maka!"

"What?"

Asura froze as Maka directed her steely gaze at him. All coherent thoughts left his mind, making Asura temporarily forget how to breathe. Maka watched him as Asura nervously flailed his arms around as he stuttered out random, incoherent babble.

At first Maka just looked at the situation with confusion. Is he trying to be a mime or was he having a heart attack or something? Slowly her confused face changed to amusement and nostalgia. This flustered and nervous disposition reminded her of her friend Crona. For the first couple of days here in Death City, Crona was so nervous and jittery. She would just wait patiently for Crona to calm down, so she did the same for Asura.

"You don't have to tell me what you need to tell me now. It looks like you're having a heart attack."

"N-no! I can do this!" Asura stopped his nonsensical rambling and took a deep breath. He hardened his resolve and looked straight into Maka's eyes. She looked back at him with mild interest. The fearsome Kishin nervously gulped one more time. "About what happened that night… I sincerely apologize."

"…Ok. "

"…Ok?"

"Is that all you have to say?"

"Yeah…"

"Ok then."

Asura blinked once. Twice.

…_Eh?_

He could see that Maka had already returned to packing her stuff into her bag. "Did you hear me?"

"Yeah I heard you." Maka continued to pack her bag without even sparing a glance at Asura.

"…Do you still hate me?"

Maka stopped her packing and finally turned to look at the nervous wreck that is Asura. "I've never hated you in the first place. Sure you made me upset, and for a while, confused, but I wouldn't hate anyone for such a silly reason."

"But I yelled at you! And you cried!"

"So? It happens. Black Star and I get into fights all the time, and he made me cry once. That doesn't mean I hate him. Sure he can be a jackass sometimes but we're still friends."

"You're willing to forgive me?"

"Yeah. Your words got me thinking about stuff. It was kinda beneficial, actually. Enlightening, in a way. Besides, even a hardheaded bookworm like me can tell you're sincere about your apology." With that said, Maka went back to her packing.

Asura just stood there, dumbstruck. His mind couldn't process how easy apologizing to Maka was. He expected a stronger reaction from Maka. Something emotional and heartrending! Like in those sappy romance books he read at the abandoned house he was staying in. This response was too short and blunt. It didn't make any sense. "You're willing to forgive me, despite what I did?"

_He's not gonna drop it, is he? _Maka sighed and turned her attention to the confused Demon God once again. "Of course I am. An action that is done or isn't done, people regret stuff like that all the time. There are plenty of things I've regret doing or not doing. But these mistakes shouldn't condemn a person for life. The ability to forgive others for their mistakes, the ability to believe in others to learn from their failure… without those in human hearts, the world would have fallen apart long ago. Compassion and faith. They're important aspects of humans, and for maintaining relationships.

"Compassion and …faith?"

"Yep!" A goofy grin stretched out on Maka's face. "Hehe, I learned that from a video game. Soul made me play it. The time limit is pretty annoying, but once you learn how to control it, it's a pretty fun game. The moon in the game is just as creepy as the moon that floats in our sky."

"So you don't hate me?"

"No, I don't."

A surge or relief flooded every fiber of Asura's being. He quietly wondered what a 'video game' was as a small smile grew on his face. The nauseous, nervous feeling he had the whole time he was there begun to fade. "That's good."

_Asura's kind of acting weird._ Maka thought absentmindedly to herself as she folded her skirt. Did he actually care what she thought about him? That's new. "Is that something really worth celebrating?"

"Yes it is." Asura's smile stretched out to a full happy one.

The skirt Maka held in her hand dropped limply onto her bag. That joyful smile completely caught her by a surprise. She quickly picked her skirt back up and placed it in her bag, a faint pink tainted her cheeks. _Asura looks pretty handsome when he smiles like a normal human being. _

Content but still a bit nervous, Asura took a seat in the chair in front of Maka's desk. He was afraid that he might end up doing something that might upset Maka again. That tiny fear was crushed as he took a deep breath to calm himself down. After calming himself down, he noticed the plane ticket lying on the small wooden desk. He picked it up and read it.

"To: Stuttgart, Germany…" Asura read out loud.

"Don't lose that. That's my airplane ticket. It's important."

"An airplane ticket? What is an airplane?"

Maka stared at him with an expression that shouted 'what-are-you-stupid?' but then remembered that Asura was asleep under the cities for centuries. Of course he wouldn't understand the new technology of this time period. "It's a vehicle of transportation. Except it transport people through the skies instead of land or sea. An airplane is a craft that is large enough to carry people and transport people across the continent through the air. It's capable of flight using forward motion-"

"Ok, I get it. It's a thing that flies people to places. I don't need a detailed history." Asura continued to look at the ticket as Maka pouted and muttered to herself about the power of knowledge. "Why are you going to Germany?"

"To complete my soul collection and make Soul a Death Scythe. We'll be hunting the Owl Witch in a nearby city."

"Owl Witch? You mean Athena?"

"You know her?" Finally finished with her packing, Maka aimed her concentration back at Asura.

"Yeah. So she's still alive, huh? That old witch was alive even when I was still a member of Shinigami's Eight Warlords. I bet she's almost as old as the Grandwitch." Asura twirled the paper around in his hand as he remembered the boring, plain witch with gigantic glasses. "Shinigami forbade me from killing her though because she was such a low-class witch and a small threat to the world. So you've been assigned to kill her, huh? So much for being a small threat."

The ticket was snatched out Asura's hand and placed back on the desk. "She was once a peaceful old lady, but now she isn't anymore thanks to you."

Asura opened his mouth to make a retort, but hesitantly closed it again. He was still a bit afraid of upsetting Maka again. He decided to change the subject. "So the witch is in Germany? Where?"

The sudden subject change didn't go by unnoticed. _Asura seems to be more jumpy than usual._ Maka simply chose to go along with it. "Athena currently resides in a city in the Black Forest region."

"…The Black Forest?"

"Yeah. What are you, deaf?"

"No, I heard you fine." Asura stared at the ticket with a blank look. He was in such deep contemplation that he didn't notice Maka walking up to him.

"Is there something wrong?"

"No, nothing is wrong." Asura stood up from his seat and patted Maka on the head. "Stay safe, ok?"

"Huh?" He faded away before she could do anything. Once again the grinning moon was Maka's only company. She would never admit it out loud, but she missed these little conversations she had with the insane man. Maka looked at the plane ticket that lied on the desk as she touched the spot Asura had patted. A small blush tinted her cheeks.

_What was that about?_

_

* * *

_

"Maka! Hurry up or we're going to miss our flight!"

"Geeze, relax Soul! We're an hour early anyway!"

After warm farewells from everyone and making Blair promise to not throw wild parties in their apartment, the duo had left to the airport at the crack of dawn. They said their goodbyes to Death the Kid and Black Star and their respective partners at the airport as they all separated and headed to different locations. Kid and Black Star would begin the hunt for Kishin the same time as Maka and Soul completed their collection. Both decked out in their new Spartoi uniforms (Spirit had given –ok, thrown- the new uniform to Soul), Soul held a firm grip on his and Maka's luggage and his still sleepy meister's hand as he dragged both of them through the crowded Death City airport to their plane.

The two boarded their plane, and for several hours they endured the stares of the common folks who apparently have no taste in fashion, watched the boring as hell airline movie, ate the vomit-inducing airline food, and dealt with the tantrums of small children on board their flight. Needless to say, it was quite a hellish experience. Their airplane was finally near its destination, and soon the two young teens will be able to leave the hellhole that is an airplane flight. Soul was sleeping quietly in his seat next to Maka as she tried to concentrate on the book she was reading. After hours of deafening noise on the plane, it was finally quiet enough for people to think. Even with the welcomed silence, Maka had difficulty concentrating on her book. Giving up on getting any reading done, she resignedly closed the book and looked over at her snoring, drooling partner.

_This sudden trip to Germany and getting ready for it distracted me from what's really important._ Maka thought as she stared at the drool escaping Soul's lips. There was also a little snot bubble rising from his nose. Gross. The words of the little demon from their last Soul Resonance sprung back to life in her mind.

'…_Remember the incident that made me a part of Soul.'_

_That incident… _Maka furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to remember it. Soul had never talked much about the little demon to her. But she did know that the little demon was basically a manifestation of the Black Blood in him. _The Black Blood entered Soul's body during our first fight with Crona. He got hurt protecting me… Now that I think of it his behavior-_

"Attention passengers! We have landed at our destination."

The stewardess continued her little speech to the passengers. The little snot bubble of Soul's popped as he blearily entered the world of consciousness again.

"Huh? What happened? Oh, we're finally here." He grabbed Maka's hand as he raised himself from his seat. "Let's get the hell out of here already." And thus Maka was dragged out of her seat and out of her thoughts.

The German airport was just as crowded as the one in Death City. Once again, Soul was dragging Maka around like a rag doll through the bustling crowds to get their luggage. After they finally got their luggage and their papers checked, our beloved pair began their journey to the city to which the Owl Witch lived.

By boarding a crowded bus filled with rowdy, excited tourists.

Mostly rowdy, excited, elderly tourists.

Who kept bothering Soul about his hair color, eyes, teeth, and everything else about him. ("Are you albino, boy?" "What a pretty shade of red!" "My goodness! What did you do to your teeth?" "Your hair looks so fluffy. Like a cloud!" "What's with the girly headband? Why, back in my day…") While Soul suffered from the endless questions of the elderly, Maka was clearly amused. She even took pictures.

Finally, after what felt like centuries to Soul, they've finally reached the bustling tourist city that is Freiburg. Soul and Maka just stood in awe at the vast, beautiful sight that is the scenic city. As much as they wanted to explore the city, they were both dead tired.

"… We should begin our hunt tomorrow." Maka deadpanned.

"Agreed." And so they both headed off to their hotel, which wasn't as bad as they expected, and went to their separate respective rooms. Maka tossed her luggage into a corner of her room and crashed onto the bed.

_Never had a bed felt so soft. _Maka buried her head in the fluffy pillow of her bed and drifted off to dreamland. Before she fell completely asleep, she noticed the little prickling she felt in the pit of her stomach. A familiar sensation she felt before, but was too tired to remember when.

_There's something strange about this city. I can feel it._

_

* * *

_

Woo chapter 10! Shorter than the previous chapter though. D: Technically, since Asura has Black Blood, he would be blushing black instead of red. But if Crona can blush normally, then so can he!

I feel a bit stupid for actually looking up information for a silly little fanfic. Not everything is 100% accurate though. I'm pretty sure international flights head to the capital of the country first. I don't know, I never been in an international flight. I also don't know how long it would take for plane to get from Nevada to Germany. But for convenience's sake, let's just say the plane landed in a nearby city. ;D

I chose an owl witch cause of all the symbolism associated with owls, and how they vary in each country. But I'm sure you folks aren't interested in little irrelevant details like that. :P

On another note, would it be fitting to refer to our world history for Soul Eater? It looks like it takes place in an alternate world. I mean, the world has 2 creepy celestial objects in the sky, Nevada is apparently a sandy wasteland, and in my opinion, technology is pretty limited in the Soul Eater world. It could be just a Soul thing, but I've seen record players being used. Or maybe it uses the same technology as us and I just wasn't paying attention. Maybe I'm just thinking about it too much and shouldn't care. It's just a silly shonen manga, after all.

Lol rambling that no one cares about.

Question! How do I check how many people are reading my story? Since about 10 people leave a review for each chapter, I assume about 10 people are reading my story. Which is a lot more than I expected! :D

EXTRA~

Asura: *looks at uniform* So you got a new uniform… And it comes with tights.

Maka: Yeah, I wouldn't want perverts to look up my skirt.

Asura: How did you know that I look up your skirt!

Maka: WHAT!

Keep it cool folks! And again, sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes!


	11. The Owl Witch's Home

What's good in the hood, folks! :D Here I am once again plaguing the internet with my crack art and fic. XD Once again I'm deeply grateful for all of the reviews! I'm sorry it takes so long for me to update though. D: You're all the best! And I got the 1st chapter of the AsuraXMaka fic I mentioned in the previous chapter up. The one with the crazy obsessed Asura. :D I'll get to the other fic I mentioned eventually.

**READ THIS IT'S IMPORTANT** I'll be honest, the ending I had originally planned for this story… it isn't very happy. However, after a lot of thinking (and considering the future complaints I might get) I'm thinking of changing the ending to a happier one. So what do you folks think? Stick with the original, unhappy ending or go with a happier ending? The switch to happy or unhappy ending is easy, and I'd be happy with either ending, I just can't decide what ending to go with. So you're input would really be appreciated!

Disclaimer: Asura would be in the manga more if Soul Eater was mine. Sadly that is not so. D:

* * *

The laughing sun was high in the red, morning sky and shined down on the active city of Freiburg. The low hum of the busy people in the city streets stirred Maka from her slumber. She rose from her bed and looked around the room and slowly remembered that she was in a hotel in Germany. Maka clumsily stumbled out of her bed to freshen herself up in the attached bathroom. The strange feeling Maka had yesterday was long gone from her heart and her mind.

"Oi! Maka! You up yet?" The muffled call of her weapon was heard by Maka as soon as she finished freshening up.

"Yeah, I'm awake." She walked to the door and opened it. On the other side of the door waited a very jittery Soul. He grabbed Maka's hand and pulled her towards the elevator.

"Great. Let's begin our hunt."

"Already? But it's so early, and I just woke up." Maka frowned as she noticed Soul's messy bed-head. "And it looks like you just woke up too. We should at least get breakfast. Food is important for maintaining our energy throughout the day."

Souls' stomach grumbled in agreement. "…Alright. Let's get a quick bite." And thus the jumpy weapon dragged his tired meister to the cafeteria of the hotel. They both ate a small breakfast. While Maka ate her breakfast at a normal, human pace, Soul quickly shoveled the food down and pestered Maka to hurry up once he finished up.

"Take it easy Soul. You're going to choke. What's the rush? We have three weeks to hunt down the Owl Witch."

"I just want to get this done as quickly as possible." With that said, Soul hauled his meister from her seat as she continued to munch on her toast.

Outside their hotel Maka could see the lively people of the city. Tourists were running around taking pictures of the scenic city and shopkeepers were busy trying to lure the tourists to come buy their wares. The energetic vibe that surrounded the place infected Maka as well. The inner tourist within Maka slowly began to emerge.

"Soul! We should go see the Münster cathedral! I read online that it's the one of the oldest and most beautiful cathedral in all of Europe! It's also the biggest sight in the city. Look! We can see it from here!" Maka pointed out the towering cathedral in the distance excitedly. She whipped out a map of the city she had in her pocket and quickly pointed out the locations she circled that they had to visit. "There's also the University of Freiburg, one of the most famous German universities. I heard it was one of the best universities in Germany and Europe. I would love to see it!"

"We're here for business, not for fun." Soul responded apathetically.

"I know, but it wouldn't hurt to have some fun on the way." Maka frowned as she gripped Soul's jacket and turned him to her. "I'm usually the one that's serious, and usually you were the one excited to go sight-seeing. I know we have to look for the witch quickly, but it wouldn't hurt to enjoy ourselves along the way. What's wrong, Soul?"

Soul just stared at his partner in an indifferent manner. The puppy-like frown Maka had was starting to affect him. He sighed slightly as he responded. "I know… It's just that the witch's soul is a priority. The sooner we get the witch's soul, the sooner I become a Death Scythe."

"All right… we'll go sight-seeing some other time. But when lunch time comes we're definitely trying the Black Forest Cake!"

"Yes, yes." Nearby a tram car rolled to a stop. People piled out of the tram as people boarded the tram car. "Let's get on the tram. That should give us a quick view of the city. I heard the tram routes are pretty expansive throughout the city."

And so they boarded the crowded tram car along with a bunch of bouncy tourists. Maka looked at the map she had in their hand. They were currently in the center area of the city. The current location of the witch within the city is unknown, but she suspected Athena to be hiding out on the outskirts of the city. Living in a less populated area would attract less attention. Taking her seat on the tramcar, Maka activated her Soul Perception. All she could sense was the thousands of human souls that inhabited the city. No witch's soul nearby. In the pit of her stomach pricked the familiar sensation she felt last night. _This feeling again… _

"Can you sense the witch?" Soul asked, successfully pulling Maka out of her train of thought. He took a seat next to his meister.

"No. She must not be in this area." Maka peered out the window once again, scanning the area for any purple souls. In the corner of her eyes, Maka caught sight of an owl hidden among the leaves of a nearby tree. Through the leaves it stared straight at Maka and Soul, closely observing them. _An owl! That could be the witch's familiar, or the witch itself! _"There's an owl outside in that tree."

Soul turned around and looked in the direction Maka was pointing at. "Is that the witch?"

"I don't sense anything strange about the owl. It has the soul of a regular owl. Most owls are nocturnal, but this could be one of those owls that aren't, I guess. And owls do inhabit theBlack Forest." The owl flew away from its perch and headed off to an unknown direction. Maka got up from her seat. "No owl would live in this crowded city! It must be Athena's familiar!"

Soul grabbed his hasty partner and pulled her back into her seat. "It's too late for that now. The trolley is already moving, and we can't follow a flying target anyway. What are we going to do, sprout wings and fly? I don't think so." Both of them could see the owl's small figure grow smaller as it flew further away from them. "If it is Athena's familiar, then it looks like she knows we're here now."

For the rest of the day the duo sat in the tramcar as it circulated the city. Maka continued to scan the passing areas of the city for any witch's souls. Soul tried to help with the search, but for the majority of the ride he was being harassed by the locals, tourists, and small children. Especially the small children. The little toddlers wanted to play with the albino teen with shark teeth. Once again, Maka took pictures out of amusement.

After a long day of searching and unknowingly skipping lunch, dinner time had quickly arrived. The hungry pair decided to eat at a restaurant close by their hotel. Soul just stared at his partner in disbelief as they waited for service. Maka's eyes were currently glued to a small German-to-English and vice versa translation book.

"I can't believe you're studying at a time like." Soul read the cover of the book passively as Maka furiously studied. "This is a tourist city that attracts thousands of people from everywhere. I'm pretty sure the people here speak English too."

"Hey, you never know what could happen!" Maka finally looked up from her little translation book to scowl at the smirking weapon. "We could end up separated in some desolate part of the town where no one speaks English. With this book, I'll be able ask the locals if they have seen an albino boy with messy hair, so HA!"

Soul just laughed at the sight of Maka sticking her tongue out in triumph. "We won't get separated. I'll make sure of it."

Maka closed her translation book and put it away. "We couldn't find the witch today. I guess the tram car doesn't reach all of the edges of this city. Tomorrow we'll just have to search by foot or something to look for Athena more thoroughly."

"Yeah." Soul showed yet another disappointed look on his face. Just as Maka was about to ask questions concerning his welfare, the waiter finally came to take their orders. Once the waiter took their orders, Soul excused himself to the restroom.

All Maka could do was just stare at her partner's retreating back.

* * *

Soul found himself to be the only one in the clean restroom. He went up to the nearest sink and splashed water on his face. With his hair and face dripping wet, Soul looked at his reflection in the mirror. His white hair clung to his wet face in a wild fashion; his red eyes were stretched to its peak. The faint shadows under his eyes gave him a more feral look. Soul scrubbed his face with water once more, as if trying to rinse his face back to normalcy.

_I need to become a Death Scythe quickly._

_Would it even make a difference?_

Looking back up at the mirror, he could see the little demon's image reflecting off of it. The mirror showed the image of the well dressed red demon in the surroundings of the black room. Soul glared at the little demon as it laughed at Soul's currently disorganized condition.

_You look even more pathetic than usual. How are you going to woo your precious meister in this sad state? I'm sure the young lady prefers a cleaner, stronger man._

_Shut the hell up .You know nothing about Maka._

_I know more about your precious lady than you do, my pitiable master._

Soul grabbed the mirror and attempted to shake the little demon inside it. He flashed his sharp teeth as his grip on the mirror tightened. "You better have not done anything to Maka, you son of a bitch!"

The little demon raised in his arms up in a lazy manner in defense. He took a step back and laughed at Soul's threat. _Whoa, easy there, Soul! And watch your volume. What would people say if they find a kid talking to his reflection? They'll send you to the loony bin!_

Soul continued to glare at the mirror. His knuckles were beginning to turn white as he tightened his death grip on the reflective object.

_Do you think becoming a Death Scythe will make you stronger? Strong enough to protect the young missy? It is due to the effort and skill of your meister that got you this far in the first place. She was the one who fought all of those potential Kishin monsters. You're just a weapon to be wielded, and that is all._

The water from Soul's hair dripped into the sink in a rhythmic fashion. The sound of the water making contact with the sink below reverberated throughout the empty restroom as Soul loosened his grip on the mirror. His wet hair covered his eyes.

_You can't do anything without your meister. You can't even protect her. In fact, I think it would be better is she found another-_

The smashing of a mirror echoed throughout the empty room. In a flash Soul pierced the mirror with his partially morphed blade arm. The image of the little demon no longer reflected in the broken shards of the mirror. The shards of the mirror dropped to ground with a clink as Soul slowly removed his blade from the broken mirror.

All Soul could see in the broken shards of the mirror was the reflection of a livid weapon on the brink of madness.

* * *

After leaving the restroom Soul quickly returned to the table where an already eating Maka was patiently waiting for him. He quickly took his seat and began to eat his meal. Maka just watched Soul eat with incredulity as he basically sucked in all of the food without chewing. Once done, he asked for the bill and quickly paid it. He dragged a protesting Maka out of her seat and quickly headed to their hotel.

"Hey! What's with the rush? I didn't even finish my meal! And we didn't even get to eat dessert!"

"We needed to leave before they notice the broken mirror in the restroom."

"You broke a mirror! Why would you do that! We would have had to paid for that if we got caught! "

"There was a really ugly bug on the mirror. I had to kill it." By now Soul had taken both of them to their hotel rooms. He finally let go of Maka's hand as he left for his room. "Tomorrow we'll continue the hunt. Good night, Maka."

The door was shut, and Maka was left alone standing in the hallway in confusion.

* * *

In the privacy of her hotel room, Maka dried her wet hair. She had just gotten out of the shower and was getting ready for bed. Putting on whatever pajamas she could find, Maka dropped her weary body onto the comfy bed. Maka buried her head in the fluffy pillow and hugged it tightly close to her body as she worriedly thought about her partner.

_What should I do? Soul is getting stranger and stranger. He's so jumpy and nervous now; acting as if something will burst from the shadows and attack at any moment. I don't like this one bit! _Maka rolled around on her bed out of frustration in confusion. In the depths of her heart rose a faint, familiar sensation once again. Lifting her head from her pillow and stopping her spazzy spinning movement, Maka concentrated on the recognizable feeling.

_This feeling… _Maka closed her eyes to help with the concentration. _I've felt this feeling whenever Asura appears to bother me, this madness wavelength._ She opened her eyes again and apprehensively looked around the room. She didn't see the tall, skinny man wrapped in bandages anywhere in the vicinity. Swinging her legs over to the corner of the bed, Maka planted her bare feet on the carpeted ground and walked to the window. The glass of the window felt cool to her forehead as she placed her forehead on the transparent glass.

_If hallucination Asura isn't here, then this wavelength must be coming from the real, physical Asura. He must be somewhere near this city. _Maka frowned to herself as she gazed at the grinning moon as it hovered over the adjacent forest. _I wonder if I'll meet the real deal during this trip._

The memory of their first physical meeting sprung up in her mind. The first time they ever talked to each other face to face was during their first battle. Maka blushed as she remembered the Kishin stealing her first kiss. She angrily yanked herself from the window and climbed back into bed. Pulling the blanket over head, Maka tried to erase the blush that painted her cheeks.

_If I do see him I'm going to castrate him with a spoon for that._

_

* * *

_

The night quickly passed and the sun replaced the moon as the dominant figure in the sky. Once again the duo quickly ate their breakfast and got on a bus. The bus they were in was heading to a relatively unpopulated area in the outskirts of the city. With the vehicle getting closer and closer to the looming forest, Maka could sense the soul of a witch getting stronger in the area.

"This is it, Soul. I can sense the witch. She's in this area."

"Ok." Soul's hold on Maka's hand tightened. Outside the bus they could see thousands of owls everywhere. A flurry of them flew in the sky, flying towards every direction. Several owls were perched on the roofs of houses, trees, and anything else they could sit on. All of the owls held a firm gaze on the duo as the bus came to a stop. When the weapon and meister exited the bus, all of the owls that once sat frozen took flight into the sky.

The bus started its engine and left the pair alone in the empty streets. Unlike the other parts of the city that was always crowded and lively, these streets were desolate and quiet. Only the rustling of a few leaves could be heard in the barren roads. Using her Soul Perception, Maka examined the area. Only a few human souls inhabited the area.

Soul pulled Maka closer to him. "This is kinda creepy."

Maka nodded her head. "It seems that most of the people living here have left already. Or worse." A sudden noise was heard behind the couple. They turned around to see a middle aged man hastily dragging his many bags to the bus stop. One of his luggages fell out of his grip. Maka and Soul quickly ran to the poor man and helped him with his bags.

"Thank you, young ones. What are two kids like you doing here? How did you get here?"

Placing the man's bags on the ground, Maka turned to the man to answer him. "We're looking for someone by the name of Athena. We just got off the bus to get here."

"Ah, the bus already passed?" The man sat down on top of one of his luggage and sighed. "Then I'll just have to wait for the next bus. At least there are no owls in this area. What a relief."

"Hey mister," Soul called, which immediately caught the attention of the weary man. "What happened to this place? It's practically a ghost town. Where is everyone?"

"When you entered this part of the city, you've noticed all the owls, right?" Maka and Soul nodded their head in agreement. "Those damn owls have recently been entering the city by storm and no one knows why. Such a minor invasion wouldn't ordinarily be a big deal, but ever since the owls have made the streets their home, people have been dropping dead! Especially the children! Those evil birds hoot at nighttime, and in the morning the children won't wake up! Almost all of the people who haven't moved out of this part of the city have already died!" The old man buried his head in his hands. "My own wife and children were already taken by them…"

Maka got down on her knees and placed her hand consolingly on the man's back. "I'm so sorry for your losses. Did anyone try anything to get rid of the owls?"

The old man sniffed and wiped his eyes. "Yes… But no matter what, those owls keep coming back! And no one can figure out why everyone is dying! That's why everyone has been ordered to evacuate the area."

Soul entered the conversation with his own question. "Shouldn't stuff like this be in the news?"

"It is in the news. The German news. It hasn't reached international news yet."

"Oh…" Soul just sweated as Maka shot him an 'I-told-you-learning-Geramn-would-be-helpful' look.

"You kids said you were looking for someone named Athena?"

Maka nodded her head. "Yes, do you know her?"

"Yeah. She has to be the nicest lady in all of these parts. She gave away free cuckoo clocks too all of the children and let everyone borrow books from her massive library. She must have books from all over the world in her cottage. Why are you kids looking for her?"

"We're relatives of hers." Soul quickly lied.

"I haven't seen Athena in a long time. Maybe the owls got her too…"

Maka got up and dusted her tights off. "Can you tell us where Athena's place is?"

The old man pointed in a direction. "Keep going straight in this direction. Eventually you'll find her house. It's very close to the forest and a bit far from society. But kids like you shouldn't be wandering around in dangerous streets like this. You should get out of here! I'm sorry to say but I think Athena is already dead."

"Don't worry about us, old man." Soul said. Maka had already begun walking down the direction the man pointed. She waited patiently for Soul. "Us big kids can take care of ourselves."

And so the two young teens clad in white began their short journey to the witch's lair. The old man watched Maka and Soul's backs get smaller and smaller as they walked further and further away.

_Those kids are dressed weird._

_

* * *

_

It didn't take long for the heroine and her weapon to reach Athena's house. It was a relatively large cottage a good distance away from the local populace. They were greeted by a thousand pairs of owl eyes staring directly at them. They all surrounded house, and sat on anything that was available. Not one of them dared to make a noise. Even without Soul Perception, both the weapon and meister could sense the wavelength of madness in the area. Maka held the handle of Soul closer to her as she stared nervously at the house. The Kishin's wavelength made it difficult for her to use her Soul Perception.

Soul's image appeared on the blade of the scythe. "Not only is the witch here, but so is the Kishin, huh? I can feel the madness without even trying. He's somewhere nearby. Looks like we can kill two birds with one stone."

Maka swallowed nervously. "Yeah… I guess. But what should we do about the witch? Her place is surrounded by owls. We can't scout the area without being spotted."

"We can try sneaking in."

"Like I said, the place is surrounded by OWLS. And they keep staring at me. It's freaking me out. Also Asura's wavelength is screwing around with my Soul Perception abilities. The witch is in the building, but I can't tell exactly where."

"Man, this is a great place for a horror movie. Except it's the afternoon. If it was nighttime, then this place would be perfect for a murder film. A really gory one."

"You're not helping Soul!"

Creeeeaaaaaak.

The door to the cottage slowly swung open. Maka and Soul just gawked at the open door. They looked at each other nervously. All of the owls continued to stare at them in deathly silence, waiting for the two to make their move.

"Soul, I think we should retreat for now. We need to think of a plan. We can't just enter a witch's place without a strategy all willy-nilly like. The place might be filled with traps."

One of the owls flapped its wings. The unflinching gaze was beginning to bother Soul too. "Do you really think they'll let us leave? The only path open to us is the one that lies before us."

Maka stared at the entrance to the large cottage. The door was wide open, inviting her to enter the seemingly empty cottage. She didn't know what lied beyond the doors. Whether heaven or hell waited for her inside the house, it didn't matter. Maka took a deep breath and made her first step to where the Owl Witch waits.

"Let's go."

* * *

Annnnd that's it for chapter 11! Truthfully I planned for this chapter to include the battle and other parts too, but that would have made this chapter really, really long. Like super long. So you'll just have to wait for the next chapter to find out what happens!

The myths pertaining to owls vary in different countries. Some revere owls as creatures of good, others as creatures of misfortune. In Germany, if an owl hoots as a child is born, then the infant will have an unhappy life. Which sucks majorly for the kid. And death is sometimes associated with owls in various countries. Which is why some countries believe that only owls can live in a house haunted by ghosts. :D I twisted these myths around to my liking for this story.

Poor Asura. He didn't appear in this chapter. D: I try to make it my goal to somehow shove him into every chapter whenever possible. Looks like you're out of luck this time, buddy.

EXTRA~

Asura: *appears in Maka's hotel bathroom* 'Eh? Where is Maka?'

Maka:*taking a shower*

Asura: O.O AKLJSDOAJSKJADfLHAOPDW *nosebleeds a waterfall of blood*

Maka: *jumps out of shower* Who's there!

Asura: Eep! *vanishes*

Maka: *sees no one* Eh, must be the wind. *goes back to showering*

MEANWHILE –at Asura's lair-

Asura: *nose still bleeding* I-I saw Maka naked… *faints*

Keep it cool folks! Sorry for any grammar or spelling errors! And you're input about the ending would really be appreciated! Thanks for reading! :D


	12. Second Encounter

OH MY GOD I'M SO SORRY THIS TOOK FOREVER TO UPDATE. ;_; It's been like what, 2 months since I last updated this story? HOLY SHIT MAN. This is why I should never establish a schedule, I suck at keeping them. T_T I SHALL COMMIT HONORABLE SEPPUKU TO ATONE FOR MY SINS. But later. I got a chapter to finish!

Now that I got my pile of work done, hopefully I'll be able to update more often. No promises (and I might regret saying this), but I'll try to update this and my other story like once a week.

Enough with the blathering! Let's get this party started!

Disclaimer: Soul Eater belongs to Atsushi Ohkubo yo!

* * *

Together, both meister and weapon stood directly in front of the Owl Witch's house. Both of them stared at the open door a few feet before them, hoping to find answers on what might await them inside the large cottage. Sadly the darkness that lied beyond the open door revealed nothing. Maka could hear a faint ticking coming from the inside of the house. The thousands of owls were perched perfectly still on their posts, continuing their observation of the pair in silence. Their unwavering gaze never left the pair as they cautiously entered the witch's house.

The faint ticking grew to deafening proportions as the small girl and her weapon entered the house. Only the afternoon light that shined through the few windows provided light in the dark room they stood in. Their eyes adjusting to the darkness, the pair looked around at their surroundings and noticed the thousands of cuckoo clocks that decorated the walls. Fortunately for them not a single owl was in sight. Clock gears of various sizes hung from the ceiling and scattered on the ground. Other various parts to make a clock ranging from small to ridiculously large adorn the walls and floor as well. It was as if the young teens had entered the innards of a giant cuckoo clock.

"I know this lady is a clock maker, but having this much clock parts is ridiculous." Soul said incredulously. He watched one of the many cuckoo clocks on the wall chime as it hit the hour mark. A carefully crafter wooden bird burst out of the wooden clock and cheerfully chirped as it bobbed back and forth into the wooden frame. The chirping echoed throughout the large room ominously. Soon a several other wooden birds exited their wooden clock homes and chirped as well.

Maka bent down and picked up an abandoned wooden frame of a clock that lay carelessly discarded on the ground. Brushing off the dust that covered it, Maka examined the elaborate and careful details that were engraved into the worn out frame. Upon closer inspection of the other assortment of clock parted that sprinkled about the room, she noticed that each piece was handmade. No two pieces were the same; each had an intricate design unique to only that piece.

"A lot of care and effort went into making these parts," Maka stated as she place the frame in her hand onto a nearby wooden table. "Someone who would sacrifice so much time to make each piece of a clock special can't be all that bad, right?"

"That may be so, but that kind, old lady of the past doesn't exist anymore." Maka looked at her partner's reflection on the blade of the scythe at he replied apathetically. "The Kishin's madness corrupted her. Soon the whole world will be corrupted by his madness. That's why we need to kill the Kishin as soon as possible, for the sake of the world."

"Yes… We need to kill Asura…" She mumbled softly to herself.

"So," Her partner's voice pulled her out of her thoughts. A frown Soul was etched into his face a bit as he looked at his spaced out meister. "Can you sense the location of the witch in this house?"

Maka closed her eyes for a second and quickly reopened them, activating her Soul Perception. It was no good. The Kishin's madness was too strong in this area and distorted her vision. She couldn't track any souls nearby, but she could feel a faint presence of a person in the direction ahead. "I can't pinpoint the exact location, but I can tell the witch is up ahead."

And thus they proceeded forward to where hopefully the Owl Witch was hiding. Maka carefully stepped around the clock pieces that were scattered on the ground carelessly. The door leading to another unknown area opened with a soft click. On the other side Maka and Soul found even more clock parts dispersed randomly in a dark, narrow hallway. The ear-splitting loud ticking of the previous room had dropped to a lower volume after the nervous girl closed the door behind her; a welcome relief to the pairs' ears. The hallway was completely silent, lacking any completely constructed noisy clocks. The only noise that echoed through the hall was the dull ticking of the numerous clocks of the previous room. Unlike the high ceiling of the previous room, the hallway had a very low ceiling. A particularly tall person would have easily bumped their head on the dusty ceiling. Gears and clock hands several times larger than the ones in the previous room littered the floor, making it even harder for the meister to navigate the dark hallway. From the low ceiling hanged normal sized fragments of the clocks, attached to the ceiling with flimsy string, which kept knocking into Maka's face. Shoving aside the annoying blockage, she forged her way through the obstacles and proceeded down the hallway. The faint presence of a witch's soul was getting stronger as she moved forward.

At the end of the packed hallway stood a door wide open. Beyond nothing could be seen but darkness. Maka and Soul stared at the open door for several seconds, waiting for something to pop out. No dangerous monster came running out to kill them, no booby traps launching out of the darkness to finish them off. Inhaling the stagnant, dusty air, Maka cooled her verves and entered into the darkness.

The presence of a witch's soul was stronger than ever once Maka entered the room. But she couldn't tell where the witch was in this room. It felt like the witch was everywhere in this room all at once. The complete darkness wasn't helping matters either. The darkness hid everything in a thick layer of black. Maka could barely even see her own hand in front of her face. She held her breath in, hoping that her other sense would pick up the witch. Unfortunately not a single sound ever displaced the ominous silence that hanged in the air. _It would be nice if we could find a light switch. The Owl Witch Athena is definitely in this room, but where? _

"Good afternoon, my dear children. Are you lost?"

A bright light filled the dark room, temporarily blinding the girl and dragging her out of her idle thoughts. The new source of light revealed that the room they were in was a large library. Bookshelves filled to the brim towered over the pair like humans would to an ant. Perched on top of the bookshelves were millions of owls; all of them staring at the two intruders. Finally adjusting to the light, Maka looked up to see a frail old lady sitting amongst the thousands of owls on top of a bookshelf. The aged witch looked even older than time itself, something that definitely took its toll on the witch. Her figure was hunched over with age; her stringy hair was a pale gray that was tied into a simple bun. Large, oversized glasses covered up half of her face. Surprisingly to both the meister and weapon, the witch was smiling peacefully at the pair, not a hint of ill-will directed toward them. All in all, the old witch looked about as dangerous as a wounded rabbit. But Maka knew better than to underestimate a witch. She spread her feet into a battle stance and prepared herself for battle.

"Owl Witch Athena! I'll be taking your soul!" Maka shouted with confidence, glaring at the smiling old woman. Her attention fully on the old woman, Maka didn't notice the worried image of Soul reflecting off the blade of the scythe. Beads of sweat rolled down his face as he stared at his meister.

_Will I be able to protect Maka this time? Am I strong enough to be her weapon?_

"Oh, such a rude child." The calm, quiet voice of the old woman shook Soul out of his worried thoughts. Athena continued to look down on the two children with a warm smile gracing her lips. "I can see from that skull emblem on your jacket that you are a student of the esteemed Shinigami. Why on Earth would I be hunted? I am just a tired old witch who wishes to live her life in peace."

"Quit with the innocent act! I know that you're the one stealing all of the souls of everyone in this area of the city!"

"All right, you caught me red-handed." Athena covered her mouth as she giggled quietly. Even though a great distance separated the two, Maka could see the frail woman's warm smile slightly twitch into a mad one. Athena continued giggling her quietly, but slowly it became more raucous and disturbing. She was laughing so hard that it was beginning to get hard for the old lady to breathe. Maka unconsciously took a step back as she watched the pleasant old lady break down and reveal her true self.

"Why did you kill all of those innocent people? It is against the laws established by Shinigami-sama." Maka asked, but immediately regretted doing so. The elderly woman stopped her mad laughter and glared down at the little girl several feet below her. _And I thought Asura was insane…_ Maka thought disbelievingly.

"I killed them because they were so disgustingly _weak_. It is absolutely idiotic of Shinigami to devote his life to protect such pathetic weaklings. Look how easy it was for my owls to devour their souls." One of the many owls next to Athena fluttered its wings. Athena petted her lovely owl gently on the head, maintaining her disgusted glare at the two little humans. "My kind has been hunted for centuries in order to protect humans. Selfish, weak humans. Humans who can break so easily, who whine too much, who have no respect for others, who have become lazier and lazier with each passing generation. I've lived among these rats for centuries, watching them grow even more ungrateful. My kind shall be killed for their sake? My friends and sisters have died to protect these pieces of _shit_? Shinigami can go rot in hell for all I care!"

"Witches are only hunted if they kill humans! You know that!" Maka retorted back. "The balance of power in this world will devolve into chaos without humans! Who else will protect humans?"

"Let them die! Humans have abandoned their desire to improve themselves for the sake of living a comfortable, lazy life! No longer do they aspire to gather knowledge, or gain strength, or live an honest life! They'll take the short route to instant gratification, no matter what the means! Puny, selfish insects that need a god to protect them! WEAKLINGS LIKE THEM DESERVE TO DIE! DIE, DIE, DIE!" Athena stopped her rant for a second to catch her breath. She panted maniacally, desperately catching her breath. Her neat bun now a mess from her raving and the large glasses that covered her eyes so well now clearly showed bloodshot eyes stretched to its peak.

Maka held her weapon defensively in front of her, inching closer to the door, ready to bring the fight outside of this crowded house. She was so close to the door…When the room was drenched in darkness again.

"What the-!" Maka yelled off guard.

"You die too, ok?"

The sound of a thousand wings flapping deafened both the startled boy and girl. Maka dashed out of the door, fumbling her way through the crowded floor. _Damn it, now I know why the witch has all of these random parts everywhere. _

"Maka! Behind you!"

Reacting Soul's warning, Maka spun around and cut an incoming owl in half. The owl was cut clean in half, but Maka was too busy hacking way at more owls to pay attention to the fallen body of the now dead owl. Another swift swing of the scythe connected with several owls, cutting them in half. Cutting down more owls and clearing the path of blockage with her scythe, Maka ran out of the dark hall.

The situation in the larger clock-filled room was no better. The owls that were previously outside of the cottage were now swarming the room, dive-bombing towards the small meister. Maka spun her weapon around her to deflect the attacking owls. A large falling gear that was once attached to the ceiling temporarily distracted her, forcing her to stop defending herself and leapt out of the gear's way. A loud crash was made and a huge dent was left where Maka was once standing. Still distracted, one of the owls took this chance to attack the meister. An owl launched itself towards her and crashed into Maka, the force of the blow knocking her off her feet. Without even realizing it, Maka was flat on her back, thousands of clock parts pressing painfully on her back. Quickly regaining her thoughts, Maka brought her arms up in defense Owls launched down at her fallen figure. Several cries escaped the meister as the owls viciously pulled at her hair and tore her legs up with their talons.

"Maka!" Soul shouted in alarm. The scythe in Maka's hand began to glow, ready to morph back into the shape of a human.

"Stay in weapon form idiot!" Soul quickly stopped his morphing and resumed weapon form. Another owl pierced Maka's arm with a sharp talon. The searing pain of the fresh wound coursed throughout Maka's arm. It hurt like hell, but she had to do something or die. "Soul! I need Witch Hunter now!"

"Right!"

"Soul Resonance!" Both of them yelled out. The blade of the scythe glowed and morphed into a large crescent moon shape blade. The burst of power from the blade pushed the all of the attacking owls back; Maka seized this chance to jump to her feet.

"Witch Hunter!" Several owls fell to the ground with one fell swoop of the larger scythe. Noticing all of the owls coming at once, Maka readied herself for a counterattack. "Hurricane Cut!" She spun around at a blindingly fast pace, cutting all of the owls in a whirlwind of blades. When she finally slowed down to a stop, all that was left in the large room were the corpses of owls and the wrecked remains of the clocks. Her mind still spinning from her attack, Maka used the shaft of her scythe to help her catch balance. The shining blade cracked and shifted back to its normal form.

"Maka!" She looked up to see her panicking partner's reflection appear on the blade. "Are you ok? You're bleeding!"

"Yeah, that happens sometimes. It's nothing too serious." Using her Soul Perception again, she could sense the witch has left the house. In the thick of the woods a witch's soul was making its escape. "The witch is running away! We have to catch her!"

"But you're hurt!"

"Who cares about that! Let's go!" Maka sprinted out of the wrecked house and into the dark woods. The afternoon sky was turning gray, a strong storm clearly beginning to brew. The perfect weather for a battle. But none of that mattered to Soul.

He couldn't tear his gaze off of Maka's wounds.

* * *

In a dusty room there hid a very nervous and frightened man. This frightened man sat on an equally dusty bed, sweat rolling down his pale skin. He could feel it. He could feel the presence of a familiar pure soul nearby. It was so close to him, it was like he could reach his hand out and touch it; Maka's soul. The dusty bed creaked as he shifted his body. This slender man gripped the life out of the blanket that was underneath him.

_Maka is so close to me, the real me. She here's to hunt for the witch right now._ There was no doubt about it. Through his infection, Asura watched Maka battle with the witch's familiars with apprehension. His heart was racing a mile a minute. It was getting hard for him to breathe. Asura was afraid. But not for his own well-being, he was afraid of what might happen to the well-being of the little meister.

_Should I help her? But this is none of my business. Maka is hunting a witch to make a Death Scythe to kill me. Helping her would just lead to my death. So I shouldn't help her. Right. Just ignore the battle. Just ignore that ugly feeling in your heart right now. It doesn't concern me. Not at all. _But he couldn't ignore it. The feeling of worry writhed in his heart to strongly, making his heart pound at a rapid pace. He was almost worried that his heart was going to explode. What if Maka was hurt? Giving up trying to ignore his worry, he used his infection to see what was going on with Maka right now. He saw a small girl running out of the witch's house and into the woods.

A small girl covered in blood.

Asura immediately jumped out of bed and ran out of the room. The door was slammed shut, disturbing the layers of dust in that coated every inch.

_Maka!_

_

* * *

_

Everything was a blur as Maka sprinted further and further into the woods. The twigs cracked underneath her feet with a loud snap. Several twigs scraped her skin as she chased after the witch's soul further ahead.

_Damn it Asura. Your wavelength is really screwing up my perception! _Maka thought irritatingly as she slashed a tree branch out of her way. Unbeknownst to her, her weapon was having an inner dilemma.

In the depths of Soul's mind, a little red demon was laughing it up, having the time of his life in the black room. He was laughing so hard that tears were coming out of his eyes. Soul tried to ignore the cackling demon, but it just kept getting louder and louder.

_Shut the hell up already! _Soul shouted at the well-dressed demon.

_Ok, I'll stop. _The little demon wiped a little tear from his eye. _It's just so laughable how pathetic you are. Poor missy, having such a weak weapon. Look at all of those wounds. They must hurt like hell._

Soul just sat in the chair in silence. He couldn't help but think that maybe the little demon was right, that he wasn't strong enough to be Maka's weapon. He couldn't protect her from the owls. He couldn't protect her from the Kishin. He couldn't do anything. Was he really that useless on his own?

_You know, the Kishin is very close by. Maybe he is willing to partner up with the little lady. I'm sure he would make a better partner than you._

"Hey Soul!"

Maka's voice pulled him back into reality. A bit shaken, Soul looked down at his meister through the blade of the scythe. She was still running through the forest at a quick pace.

"Don't go dozing off on me. We're in the middle of a battle!"

Maka slid to a stop to catch her breath. It was no good; the Kishin's madness is too overwhelming. The massive amount of insanity in the air made her loss track of the witch. She could still sense that the witch was in the woods, but not the direction to which she ran off to. Maka looked at her surroundings. They were dead in the woods, surrounded by nothing but trees. Other than the low rumbles of thunder, the forest was dead silent. It was if all life in the forest disappeared. _The madness might have scared away the animals._ With the adrenaline slowly wearing off, Maka was finally starting to feel the sting of the fresh wounds she had all over her body. She sat down on a nearby boulder to give her tired legs a chance to relax.

"You're seriously hurt, Maka! We need to get you to a hospital!" Soul made a motion to transform back into his human form, but Maka stopped him.

"I told you to stay in weapon form. And these wounds are nothing, just scratches. Besides, I've had worse. I'll live."

"Right…" Noticing the slight change in her weapon's tone, Maka looked up at the scythe in her hands.

"How about you, Soul? Are you ok?"

"Of course I am. _I'm_ not the one who is fighting." Soul raised his head in response to hearing a small fluttering noise. Looking up, he could see an owl watching them high up in the tree. "Maka! Heads up! There's an owl in that tree!"

Before she could even look up, the owl was already diving down to attack the resting girl. In a flash Soul was back in his human form. He shoved Maka out of the way of the incoming attack. She stumbled onto the ground as Soul finished off the owl with a quick slash.

"Damn, these owls are everywhere." Maka watched the corpse of the owl fall to the ground with a thud. A tan hand lowered in front of her face, offering to help her up. She readily accepted the offer and was pulled back up to her feet. "Thank you, Soul. Now hurry up and transform back into a scythe."

"…Why are you so eager about keeping me in weapon form?"

"Eh?"

Soul's grip tightened on Maka's hand. His hands were shaking, and sweat was beginning to roll down his face. "Is it because I'm useless without my meister? Is it because I'm easier to take care of in weapon form?"

"What are you talking about? It's better for you to stay in scythe form now cause I certainly can't use your human form to fight. And switching back in forth from human to scythe is time consuming."

"Then it would just be better if I was just another ordinary scythe! That way you wouldn't have to deal with the burden of having such a useless partner! Right? RIGHT?" Maka instinctively took a step back, but was held in her place by Soul's tight hold. Soul pulled her closer to him, making her panic a bit. Panic and desperation was beginning to emerge in Soul's shaky voice. "You want to find another partner to replace me, don't you?"

"Calm down, Soul! I don't think you're useless! I would never want to replace you!"

"YOU'RE LYING! You think I'm not strong enough to be your weapon!" His deathly tight grip on her hand made Maka wince a bit in pain.

"You dumbass, stop claiming you know what I think and listen for a second!"

Another set of wings flapping can be heard above them. Before Maka could even notice it, Soul had already let go of his hold on her and was sprinting after the owl.

"I'm not weak! I'll kill that witch myself! I'll show all of you I'm strong!"

"Soul! Come back here!" It was too late; Soul's figure had already disappeared within the thick foliage of the forest. Muttering several swears underneath her breath, Maka began pursuing after her weapon. The wounds on her legs stung in pain as she ran, but she ignored it and ran even faster. "You idiot! Get back here! Soul! SOUL!"

* * *

Maka ran and ran through the forest. Despite how fast or how long she ran, she couldn't catch up with him. She zoomed past all of the trees, ignoring the pain that seared her body and the twigs that cut new wounds on her skin. How long had she been running anyway? It felt like centuries had passed since she began pursuing her weapon. Once again Maka stopped her chase to catch her breath. A painful cramp was building up in her sides. Panting hard, Maka activated her Soul Perception to track down Soul. Nothing again. The Kishin's madness was too strong; she couldn't sense her partner anywhere.

_Where are you, Soul?_ Maka looked at her surroundings. Surprise, surprise, she was surrounded by trees. She could have sworn she passed these set of trees before. _Where am I? Great, now I'm lost. _The sudden jolt of a familiar soul pulled Maka back to reality. _There's Soul! _She eagerly began sprinting in the direction of the well-known soul.

The closer she got to the soul of her weapon, the stronger the madness in the air became. A nervous sweat began to break out on her skin. She picked up her pace, sprinted faster to her target. The stormy weather was getting worse. Small droplets of rain plopped on her head. Rain poured down faster as she ran closer to her weapon and the source of madness. _Asura! You better not be near Soul! _With a short burst of speed, Maka ran out of the thick forest and into a clearing.

Located within the clearing was a lonely ranch. There were no cattle or livestock anywhere to be seen, and the buildings were old and rotting. Clearly this ranch had been abandoned a long time ago. Within the old house she could sense her weapon. As she approached the ranch, Maka could see _him _standing at the entrance of the house. She sped up her pace, winding her arm up for a punch. In a blink of an eye, she was in front of the slender man in bandages. She swung her arm forward to attack, but the tall man easily caught her attack. When she made a move for another attack the man simply caught her other hand as well and watched the tiny girl struggle to get loose.

"That is no way to greet someone, Maka." He observed the tiny girl, noticing the blood on her body and the water that drenched every inch of her. "You're injured, stop struggling or you'll make your injuries worse."

"Asura! Where's Soul? You better not have done anything to him you bastard!"

"I've done nothing to the boy. In fact, you should be thanking me." A small frown decorated Asura's face. "I found him unconscious. Apparently he was attacked by the owls. I brought him here for his own good."

Maka stopped her struggling and looked up at the Kishin in disbelief. "You… saved him?"

"Yes."

"But why…? It's very obvious that you hate Soul's guts. Why would you save him?"

"Because he's _your_ weapon."

"What is that suppose to-" She was silenced when two pale fingers placed themselves on her lips.

"Hurry up and get inside. You're soaking wet, and you'll get your wounds infected if you stay out here." Asura opened the door to the rotting house and pulled Maka in.

The rotting house was just as rotten on the inside as it was outside. Dust particles can clearly be seen floating in the air. A thin layer of dust covered every surface available. On a nearby dusty couch, Maka saw her partner, lazily tossed on it and unconscious.

"Soul!" She ran up to her partner and dropped to her knees next to him. Maka took off one of her wet gloves to touch his face. It was cold. "Soul, wake up! Wake up so I can kick your ass for leaving me behind!"

Asura watched the tiny meister shake her unconscious weapon, an unwanted feeling of jealousy bubbling deep in the pit of his stomach. He slowly walked up to the girl and looked down at her. He jumped a bit in surprise when she sharply turned her head to look at him.

"You better not have done anything to him!"

"I didn't." The frown on his face deepened even more as Maka returned to prodding her partner to wake up. The frown alleviated a bit when reality hit him like a ton of bricks: Maka was right next to him. The real him, not some hallucination of him. Asura looked at the fingers that touched Maka's lips, remembering how soft they were. He has touched them before as a hallucination, but doing so with his own hands was absolutely…amazing. Touching her lips sent a wave of warmth and electricity coursing through his body. Just remembering it was making him feel warm. The sudden realization that Maka was so close to the real him made deep red blush burn on his face. A wave of nervousness and nausea washed over him as he struggled to remember how to breathe properly.

"Soul, please wake up…" Maka's soft voice was enough to make Asura remember about the dire situation she was in. "Wake up and tell me what's wrong with you…" Asura could hear a quiet sniffle coming from the tiny girl. He knelt down next to the sobbing girl and patted her wet hair in consolation. Asura couldn't help but feel sad whenever she was upset.

"Looks like you and your weapon are having some problems." Asura stated calmly.

"Soul… He just went crazy and started yelling at me, saying that I didn't want him as a weapon, and he ran off." Maka rubbed her tears away with her wet sleeves, making them even wetter. "What's wrong, Soul? Why won't you tell me what's bothering you?"

"If he won't tell you, then try figuring out yourself."

"I can't do that…" More tears rolled down her face, her speech slowly becoming incomprehensible as he sobbing became heavier. "I'm not good at understanding the details… I can only spit out information that's been told to me directly, I-I can't understand it myself. I'm too stupid to understand…"

A pale hand gently grabbed her face and directed it towards an upset Kishin. Asura cupped her face with both of his hands and tenderly brushed away her tears. Maka just sat there in confusion. She looked up at him, noticing the upset look in his eyes.

"You're not stupid, Maka. You're just a bit dense. All you need is to think a bit harder."

"Why can't anyone just tell me directly?"

"That's no good. You won't learn anything if someone did the work for you. Think for yourself." Maka's crying soften up a bit, but even so, Asura still held her face in his hands. The warmth of her cheeks felt nice to his cold hands. "How long has he been acting strange?"

"Ever since the battle with you…"

"Really?" Asura casted a glance to the unconscious boy on the couch. "Maybe something from the battle is bothering him."

"But I don't know what's bothering him!"

"Calm down and think." He finally let go of Maka's face. He stared directly into her eyes, mixed feelings circling within his. "Think about the way he acted then, and try to imagine what he might have felt."

"But-"

"You can always try."

Maka sniffed quietly before remembering how Soul behaved. "Well, he's been really protective of me, trying to keep everything from harming me. A-and he's been really eager to train and get stronger. And when I just got out of the hospital, he always looked weird when… whenever he saw my injuries." A sudden sense of familiarity pinged in her mind. _I did the same thing too, didn't I? When Soul got injured in that battle with Crona the first time, I wanted to get stronger. I wanted to get stronger to protect him. I felt that I was being left behind_ by _Sou.l I felt so useless, being unable to do anything to protect him. It was my fault that he got hurt. I felt…guilty._

Asura watched Maka's face light up with revelation. He smiled softly and patted her head. "See? You're not stupid at all."

Maka looked at her partner with worry. "Soul's been feeling guilty all this time…?" She reached over and touched his shoulder gently. "You idiot… I'm not strong at all."

Another wave of jealousy surged within Asura. He couldn't look at Maka being so close to her weapon. It made his heart feel like it was being stabbed by a thousand knives. _These damn emotions… They're so troubling. I don't like this._ _Emotions are too unpredictable. I need to get rid of them, soon._

"You should get some rest and get your injuries bandaged up, Maka." The Demon God rose up from his knees, brushing the dust off himself.

"But Athena is still out there in the forest. She'll escape if I stay put."

"Not in this weather." Asura pointed towards a window. Looking outside, Maka could see that a fierce storm was brewing. Harsh winds made the windows and ancient house rattle. A rhythmic beat pounded on the roof from the intense rain. "Athena is a smart witch; she knows it would be too dangerous to travel in this storm. She probably retreated to her home already. A storm like this won't go away so quickly. I'll prepare a room for you."

"Eh? Ok…" Maka watched as the pale man left the room and climbed up a flight of wooden old stairs. A small bit of anxiety was building within her. _This is the second time Asura and I have physically met each, isn't it? _She worriedly thought to herself_. He sure is being friendly to his mortal enemy that is after his life. In fact, Asura has been acting strange lately too. He doesn't have any secret plans or anything, right? _The sound of a pair of feet walking down the stairs snapped her out of her reverie.

"I got a room ready for you. And I found some clothes for you, so you can change. And, um, well…" A deep blush painted the Kishin's face, a fact that surprised Maka. "I can, uh, help you put the bandages on, if you want…"

"I can do it myself." Maka rose from her kneeling position next to Soul and brushed the dust off her wet clothes. Asura was both relieved and disappointed after hearing that. He was relieved that he wouldn't have to go through the awkward process of wrapping bandages delicately on Maka's injured, undressed body. Yet he was also disappointed that he wouldn't get to see Maka undressed or touch her soft skin. The soaking wet girl walked up to the nervous man and smiled at him. "Thank you for everything you've done for me, Asura."

"Ah…" A jolt of nervousness increases Asura's already fast heartbeat to astronomically levels. His face strongly resembled a ripe tomato at that moment. "Y-yeah. Uh, I'll take you to your room now."

And so Asura led Maka up the decayed stairs. Maka took this time to observe her surroundings. The house was noticeably old and dusty, but what struck Maka odd was that there was still furniture and pictures around. If someone had moved out of this house, they would have brought their stuff with them. She grabbed one of Asura's scarves to get his attention.

"Asura, what happened to the people who lived here? You didn't do anything to them, did you?"

"I did nothing. This people who lived here were murdered a long time ago." Asura replied nonchalantly. The relaxed and apathetic way he spoke about murder shocked Maka. "When I first came here, I found their skeletal remains in the kitchen and old blood stains everywhere."

"How can you talk about something like this so indifferently?" Maka asked in disbelief.

"It has nothing to do with me."

"Then why are you helping me? I am your enemy and my fight with the witch doesn't involve you."

"…Here's your room." Without realizing it, Maka found herself standing in front of an aged door. Asura turned the doorknob with a quick twist and pushed the door open, revealing the contents of the room. Unsurprisingly there was dust like everywhere else in the house, but most of the dust has been hastily cleaned away. A bed with a wooden frame was situated next to a window, its sheets and blankets cleaned in a visible hurry as well. On a nearby desk was an empty flower vase, a change of clothes, and medical gauze. All of them look worn with age. In the corner of the room stood an impressive bookcase filled to the brim with books. A soft pat on her head ended Maka's silent observation of the small room. "Take care."

"Ah, yes." And so Asura turned around silently, leaving the girl alone in the room. Maka closed the door shut and peeled the wet clothes off her body and put on the clothes Asura left her. The outfit just consisted of a large white dress shirt clearly meant for a man and a pair of blue shorts. Maka untied her wet hair and let it hang loose. She left her wet clothes to dry on the desk and picked up the gauze. It was tinged yellow from dirt and dust. _Maybe I should clean this before using it._ Maka thought as she stared at the dirty gauze. Looking at her wounds which have already scabbed over well enough, she figured that dirty gauze wouldn't infect it too much. Hopefully. She wrapped up her wounds and sat on the bed. In a dull trance, Maka just sat there, slowly absorbing what the hell just occurred today. More importantly, she was trying to understand Asura's behavior.

_Something's strange is going on with Asura. Sure he always acted strange, but never like this. _Maka stared at the huge bookcase in contemplation. The dust on the shelves have been disturbed. It looks like someone had moved the books around. _Usually he's perverted and pretty indifferent, but lately he's been acting, I don't know, nicer? And nervous too. Well, more nervous than usual. I know he's not a ruthless monster, but he isn't exactly the nicest guy in the world either._ She lied down on the bed and looked out the window. The sky has already darken to nighttime, with only a few bolts of lightning lighting up the occasionally. Rain continued to hit the house in a rhythmic, relaxing fashion. The constant beat was making Maka feel sleepy. Lifting the blanket up, Maka crawled underneath it and nestled herself comfortably on the bed. Maka closed her eyes and slowly drifted to dream land.

_Asura isn't the type to plan something malicious, right?_

_

* * *

_

All was cloaked in the peace that is nighttime in the disintegrating household. In the dead of night, the only sound that resounded quietly in the house was the sound of faint footsteps. Pale feet walked noiselessly in the darkness towards its destination. The man the feet belonged to didn't need any light to find his way; he knew exactly where he was heading. Asura stopped in front of an aged door, and quietly turned the doorknob. The door opened with a soft click, and he entered soundlessly. The occasional flash of lightning provided light for him, allowing him to see a small girl sleeping peacefully in the crumbling bed. He wordlessly walked up to the bed and looked down at the occupier.

"…This is all your fault, you know that?" He whispered quietly to the girl. The girl continued to sleep in peace, undisturbed by the intruder. Asura noted how the tranquil expression on her face was a big contrast to the normal frown that Maka almost always wore. Once again his heart was pounding feverishly in his body, as it was going to burst any second now.

_This is your fault, Maka. All of these emotions I'm having are all your fault_. Asura frowned at the unaware girl. _This jealousy, this nervousness, this concern, this sadness… I've never had them before, and I was fine with that. But now I have them, and I don't like them at all, not one bit. They're too unpredictable, too random. I can't understand them. It's too scary. This is your fault._

Asura raised his hands and lowered them close to Maka's neck. How vulnerable she was in her sleep. He could snap her neck, or strangle her, or rip her head off. All of them could have been done with relative ease. He should do it. Kill her. Kill her, and all of these ugly emotions will go away. Asura slowly encircled his hands around her neck, but found his hands were shaking too hard.

_What's wrong with me? This isn't the first time I've killed someone I've got close to. _He tried to stop his shaking hands, but it was no use. How strange it was. He always killed anyone he got close to or remotely liked easily. He killed the Spider Witch Arachne without a shadow of doubt. He ate his partner guilt-free. Killing a tiny girl he knew for a little while shouldn't be so difficult. Yet his stands shook with hesitation.

So what was holding him back? Just kill her, and all of his problems will be gone. He can go back to the way things were, living in isolation and avoiding Shinigami. No more annoying emotions that frightened him so much. No more nervousness whenever he's near her. No more jealousy to wrack his heart. No more feelings of worry for her welfare. No more feelings of guilt or sadness whenever she is upset. Kill her.

_Right…_ Asura confirmed nervously to himself. _Just kill her. No more of all of that._ He prepared himself to tighten his grip, ready to end Maka's breath.

Kill her.

_No more fearing for her life._

Kill her.

_No more jealousy whenever she talks to other boys._

Kill her.

_No more confusing emotions to scare me._

Kill her.

_No more little chats with her about nothing or everything._

Kill her.

_No more petty little arguments about nothing._

Kill her.

_No more seeing her smile._

Kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her kill her

_No more Maka._

Rolls of sweat rolled down his face, tiny drops dripping onto the bed. His breathing became more ragged and rough as it became harder and harder for him to breathe. His hands shook harder and harder, unable to tighten their grasp around the sleeping girl's neck. It would be so easy to kill her. Just do it. It would be over in a second or two. Asura's heart pounded erratically in his body as he tried to tighten his grip… but only for him to let go of Maka's neck. He lifted his hands away from the girl and hurriedly walked out of the room. The door was closed with a silent click.

_I can't do it._

_

* * *

_

LONG CHAPTER IS FUCKING LONG. Clearly the longest chapter I've ever written. I originally planned on it being even _longer _than this (containing the end of the witch battle and Soul stop acting like an ass and more) but it was already so fucking long that I had to cut it out and save it for the next chapter. At least I got a head start for the next chapter! :D

AGAIN I'm so sorry for taking FOREVER to update. I'll try to update more than once every 2 months. In the meantime, why not read the other wonderful AsuraXMaka stories on this site? They're awesome and update waaay more often than me. Some of them are already even finished! OR you can visit MakaAsura Group on Deviantart (And join it if you have a Deviantart account)! There are some awesome fics there too. And of course you can indulge yourselves with the lovely art there too. :D (Warning though, my disturbing doodles are in the gallery too. You'll know it when you see it.)

Sorry for the FAIL that is an action scene. I need to work on that skill!

This chapter (on Microsoft Word) is up to 17 pages! 8O Just thought it would be interesting to say. XD

So, I'm pretty sure my writing skill degraded over time. D:

EXTRA~

Asura: *looks down on sleeping Maka* This is all your fault, you know that?

Maka: ZZZZZZZZZZ

Asura: *reaches down, gropes Maka's chest* Whoa! I think they actually got bigger!

Maka: *punches Asura* YOU MOLESTER!

Thanks for reading this incompetent girl's story! Sorry for any spelling errors, grammar errors, and taking a long ass time to update! I LOVE ALL OF YOU. Have a nice day! *goes to work on other story's update*


End file.
